So much wit and talent and energy crowd the screen in this lavishly filmed variant of the Oz story that it is depressing to realize that the production never had a chance.

| Mar 26, 2019

Director Sidney Lumet has created what amounts to a love letter to the city of New York, which he equates with Oz.

| Mar 26, 2019

It's good that the Scarecrow is the first traveling companion she meets; Michael Jackson fills the role with humor and warmth.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 16, 2018

If you can take it just as an occasion for the exercise of some real talents, a good time can be had much of the time.

| Apr 11, 2016

Sidney Lumet's spectacular, joyous production of The Wiz generates a mood of wonder and sentimental rapture recalling the arrival of the Mother Ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

| Dec 18, 2015

On the plus side are vast, brilliant sets by Tony Walton, a couple of well-staged show-stoppers, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Diana Ross who, as Dorothy, is just gorgeous.

| Sep 28, 2007

A lot to look at, little to contemplate, and nothing to hum.

| Aug 19, 2004