The Cast Of The Wiz Live

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After casting big names like Queen Latifah as the Wiz and Mary J. Blige as Evillene–and now David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion–NBC announced that it would bring the beautiful Uzo Aduba and Amber P. Riley onto the cast of the live production of The Wiz! E! News exclusively revealed that Orange Is The New Black superstar, Uzo will be playing Glinda the Good Witch and the Glee standout vocalist, Riley, will be playing Addaperle, the Good Witch’s sister.

“We are so happy to welcome two actors we’ve admired and wanted so much to work with,” said executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. “We look forward to showcasing the amazing musical talents of Amber and we are eager to introduce Uzo’s remarkable singing voice for those who know her solely as an extraordinary dramatic actress.” Yes, Crazy Eyes has a beautiful singing voice, and we already know Amber can bring the house down.

We’re bursting with excitement over the way this star-studded cast is panning out! NBC recently announced that newcomer, Shanice Williams will play Dorothy and in case you missed it, check out her stunning audition. That young one has some pipes on her! Her star is surely going to rise. And if you remember, Stephanie Mills played Dorothy in the original Broadway play and the powers that be have given her the role of Auntie Em in this new production. How cute!

This is one production you’re not going to want to miss.

The Wiz Live! will air on NBC on Thursday, December 3.

Up Next: Lee Daniels Reveals Empire Spinoff

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The Original Big Daddy–his Instagram name, not our nickname for him–has announced that he’s working on a brand new show. Lee Daniels announced that he and Fox are currently developing another music-themed series, centered on a girl group, called, Star. Sounds like someone found his niche on the small screen.

Variety is reporting that Fox bosses Dana Walden and Gary Newman offered up details on the upcoming show, which explores the cutthroat music scene and asks the question, what do you do to rise to the top? They explained that Daniels “talks a lot about everything from ‘Dreamgirls’ to modern-day girl groups that are manufactured, they are put together, they don’t have an organic reason to be together,” Walden said. “That setup lends to a great soap operatic storytelling machine.”

Casting is soon to begin for ‘Star’ and we can’t wait to see what Daniels will have to offer. However, just because Empire is also a music show, Daniels says don’t expect for the shows to cross paths. Walden said, “It is modern-day music music in Atlanta and Empire is modern-day music business in New York,” Walden said. “It’s not inconceivable that the two shows can cross.”

That could have been fun, but Daniels has something else up his sleeve for Empire, and that’s a spinoff. He revealed at the Television Critic Association press tour that, “Without question there will be a spinoff. We talked about it in the room already.” We would love for that spinoff to be the prequel, following Cookie’s climb to the top of the drug game, up until she was in jail! Can we get some writer credit for that good idea? What would you want to see in an Empire spinoff?

Mara Brock Akil Inks Deal With Warner Brothers

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According to Variety, Salim and Mara Brock Akil have signed a multiyear overall deal with Warner Brothers TV through their Akil Productions banner and it’s slated to begin on May 2016. That just so happens to be when their five-year deal with BET is over. We’re going to miss their presence on BET as they brought such shows as “The Game” and “Being Mary Jane,” which were certainly favorites.  “Being Mary Jane” was BET’s number one show and was their first one-hour scripted series. The show hasn’t named a new showrunner as of yet.

We can’t wait to see what Salim and Mara will bring with their new deal and where they will land. There’s certainly going to be some quality content, starring Black actors! Congrats to the happy and talented couple!

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