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Photos by Kelly Randolph
In the early '70's Ken Harper, of Bronx, New York, had the idea to adept L Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to a contemporary, all-black musical. Though people scoffed at his idea he borrowed money from relatives and quit his radio disc jockey job to devote time and energy to the project. Harper commissioned William F Brown to write teh book. Charlie Smalls wrote the music and lyrics for The Wiz. The Wiz had a rough world premiere in Baltimore in 1974 then traveled to Detroit and Philadelphia for unseccessful shows. Then a new costume designer and director stepped in before The Wiz opened on Braodway in 1975. After a week of lukewarm reviews, publicity was increased dramatically by a cleaver press agent- free tickets were gien to radio stations in exchange for free air time, to reporters, freelance writers and TV networks. A week later, The Wiz became sold out for a matinee and continued with success for five years. At the end of the first season, it won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best score.