Today's Entertainment

November 30 - December 6, 2015 Page 3 ACROSS 1. "Fresh Off the __" 5. "The Walking __"; AMC drama series 9. "Key __"; Humphrey Bogart movie 10. Herman Munster's boy 12. "__ Ventura: Pet Detective"; Jim Carrey movie 13. Ballerina's support 16. Rob Lowe's role on 0"The West Wing" 17. One of the Thirteen Colonies: abbr. 18. Greg __ of "Mission: Impossible" (1966-73) 20. Demi Moore's state of birth: abbr. 21. Sandwich shop 23. "__ Call Me Mister Tibbs!"; 1970 Sidney Poitier film 25. Chat room laugh 26. Role on "The Big Bang Theory" 27. "The __ and the Pussycat"; 1970 Barbra Streisand movie 28. Sense of self-esteem 29. "One __ Hill" 30. Arthur with a racket 32. "__ Got Game"; Denzel Washington film 33. 1996 Mel Gibson movie 38. Setting for "Bonanza": abbr. 39. "__ Complicated"; 2009 Meryl Streep movie 41. Soleil __ Frye 42. "__: Cyber" 43. Actress Sharon 45. Burnett, for one 47. Sher of "The Middle" 48. Prince William's alma mater DOWN 1. "The __"; reality series 2. Uranium or gold 3. Initials for the star of "Mat- lock" 4. Oz visitor 5. Lucy's man 6. James Caan's role on "Las Vegas" 7. Promos 8. Role on "blackish" (2) 9. "Promised __" (1996-99) 11. Acting award 14. "Truth __ Consequences" 15. Laura Innes series, once 18. "Barney __" 19. "Islands in the __"; 1977 George C. Scott film 22. Actor Rob 24. Broom-Hilda and others 29. "__ Means War"; 2012 Reese Witherspoon movie 31. "Resident __"; 2002 Milla Jovovich film 34. Sherman Hemsley series 35. Word in the title of Howie Mandel's game show 36. "That's __ Raven" 37. "__ and Again" (1999-2002) 40. Layer of turf 42. __-Magnon; prehistoric man 44. 90 degrees from NW 46. "Night __ the Museum"; 2006 Ben Stiller movie Solution on page 2. By John Crook © Zap2it When executive pro- ducers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron decided on "The Wiz" as their next live holiday musical for NBC, they had no idea of the excitement the proj- ect would generate within the black music commu- nity. The duo just loved the Tony-winning 1975 Broadway show, which reconceives L. Frank Baum's classic fantasy "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" as an R&B tuner with an all-black cast. Produced in associa- tion with Cirque du Soleil, "The Wiz Live!" premieres Thursday, Dec. 3, with a power cast that includes Queen Latifah in the title role, Ne-Yo as The Tin Woodman, Mary J. Blige as the Wicked Witch of the West, David Alan Gri- er as the Cowardly Lion and newcomer Shanice Williams as Dorothy. The show also features Emmy winner Uzo Adu- ba ("Orange Is the New Black") and Amber Riley ("Glee") as the two good witches of Oz, Elijah Kel- ley ("Hairspray") as the Scarecrow and Common as the Emerald City gate- keeper. "This piece talks to people in a way that we didn't even realize," Zadan says. "It has an emotional resonance and when we started calling people, everybody want- ed to be in it. Everybody." The Broadway pro- duction nearly closed on opening night, before finding its audience, go- ing on to win seven Tony Awards and running for more than four years. A polarizing 1978 movie ad- aptation with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson initially flopped, but has since found a significant fan base. "The Wiz Live!" strives to recapture the joyous energy of the Broadway original, while blow- ing off the cobwebs of the past four decades. Grammy winner Harvey Mason Jr., who produced the "Dreamgirls" movie soundtrack, has been brought in to give the score a more contempo- rary sound. "Instead of having a Broadway pit-band sound, which is a bit ge- neric, he's made it very specific, very black R&B," Zadan says. "It sounds authentic to the point where the songs just come alive." Tony-winning play- wright Harvey Fierstein similarly has freshened up William F. Brown's original stage script. "Harvey blew the dust off of it and set it now," Meron explains. "It's still a young girl being swept away from Kansas to begin her journey in this world of Oz, but he has enhanced the emotional connections between the characters and connect- ed the dots between all of the plot points, which were a little bit looser in 1975. He also has made it funnier, and it's real character humor." Stephanie Mills, who played Dorothy on Broad- way in 1975, appears as Aunt Em in this telecast, for which Williams, 19, won the lead over hun- dreds of other contend- ers. "We saw about a thousand girls," Meron says. "To say that it was between several girls is simply not true. There was only one, and that was Shanice. Besides being a really great sing- er and young actress, she's just real. She walks into a room and you just love her. You need that with Dorothy, to go on this journey with her, to root for her. She was the only one that we collec- tively felt could do the job." David Alan Grier stars in "The Wiz Live!," airing Thursday on NBC. CoverStory 'Wiz' goes live for NBC DON'T STAY DON'T STAY … IN THE DARK. CALL 574-533-2151 OR 800-487-2151 ext. 393 TODAY ! Start your newspaper subscription today and see the light. Stay up to date on all the latest business, entertainment, sports, local news and more! Buffet 7 Days A Week! OR Order off our menu Homemade Pies 1403 E. Market • Nappanee • 574.773.0436 Mon.-Sat. 6am - 8pm • Sunday 7am - 2pm

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