The Wiz Has Found Its Dorothy; Please Stop Emailing Me

It is now official that 18-year-old Shanice Williams will play the role of Dorothy in NBC’s live musical, as announced on the Today show on Wednesday.

Williams will join Queen Latifah (who’s playing the Wizard), Mary J. Blige (the Wicked Witch of the West), Stephanie Mills (Aunt Em) and possibly Beyoncé (Glinda the Good Witch) in the production. David Alan Grier was also recently cast as the Cowardly Lion.

Auditions were held throughout the country to find a new face to lead the cast. Williams, a New Jersey native, has starred in a few local musical productions, including West Side Story and Charlie Brown. The Wiz will be her TV debut.

And this will hopefully end the barrage of emails I’ve been getting since May asking me about Dorothy auditions. Please stop 🙂