Jeff Riedel/NBC(NEW YORK) — NBC announced Wednesday who nabbed the highly coveted role of Dorothy in their upcoming production of The Wiz Live! Newcomer Shanice Williams will step into Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
“I saw that NBC was doing The Wiz and I said, ‘This is going to be the perfect learning experience,’” the young actress says in a video detailing how she got the part. “I’m just doing what I love.”
The video showed just how many actresses stood in a line that wrapped around the block to audition for the role of Dorothy. According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC had an open casting call nationwide for an African-American woman, between the ages of 18 and 27, to fill the part. The casting call also said the actress must have an “extraordinary voice who’s both mature and has a youthful energy.”
Williams joins Queen Latifah, who will portray The Wiz; Mary J. Blige, who’s playing The Wicked Witch of the West; and David Alan Grier, who recently scored the role of The Cowardly Lion.
The Wiz Live! airs on NBC December 3.
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