Noah Webster’s “Blue Back” speller
Carl Hall and Stephanie Mills in the original Broadway production of The Wiz
Martha Swope (1928–2017)
Ben Harney, Gregg Burge, Ken Prymus, & Stephanie Mills in a publicity shot for the Broadway musical The Wiz: The New Musical Version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
1978, modern print
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
Photograph for the original Broadway production of The Wiz: The New Musical Version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”
The Wiz, an all-Black musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), debuted in Baltimore in late 1974; the following year it moved to Broadway and won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Billed as a “Super Soul Musical,” with Afro-Caribbean-inspired costumes by Geoffrey Holder and dynamic choreography by George Faison, The Wiz infused the classic American fairy tale with the rhythms of Black music and Black performance traditions.
Stephanie Mills inaugurated the role of Dorothy at 17 and performed the full four-year Broadway run of The Wiz; she later enjoyed a successful R&B singing career. These shots of Mills with castmates represent the Library’s sizable collection of photographs for the musical taken by Martha Swope.
: Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Art…
Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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