The Wiz | Film Screening

Take a trip “down the Yellow Brick Road” with The Wiz (1978), the groundbreaking musical-fantasy reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an all-Black cast. Diana Ross stars as Dorothy, a Harlem schoolteacher swept into a dazzling urban Oz, where she teams up with the Scarecrow (Michael Jackson), Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion on a journey toward courage, heart, and home.

Presented in partnership with Black in the Gorge. Proceeds benefit Columbia Center for the Arts and Black in the Gorge’s cultural programs.

Film details

• Rating: G
• Runtime: 133 minutes
• Director: Sidney Lumet
• Based on: The Broadway musical / L. Frank Baum’s story

What critics said

• Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus calls it “a workmanlike movie musical… despite some committed performances from its all-star cast.”
• Early trade reactions included Variety praising it as a “big, rousing… hit” that should “enthrall the young in heart.”