Stephanie Mills "THE WIZ" Tiger Haynes / Dee Dee Bridgewater '74 Tryout Playbill

Description

I'm currently listing a large number of playbills from out-of-town tryouts prior to the Broadway runs. Many are from early performances when revisions were common and include song titles that were cut before opening in New York. (See cut songs below.) ....... This is a rare December 1974 playbill from the Pre-Broadway tryout of the WILLIAM F. BROWN and CHARLIE SMALLS musical "THE WIZ" at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (The production would open January 5th, 1975 at the Majestic Theatre in New York City and run for 1672 performances.) ..... Winner of seven Tony Awards including "Best Musical", the show starred fifteen year-old STEPHANIE MILLS as "Dorothy", STU GILLIAM (replaced out-of-town by HINTON BATTLE) as the "Scarecrow", TIGER HAYNES as "The Tinman" and TED ROSS (Tony Award) as "The Lion" and featured CLARICE TAYLOR, MABEL KING, TASHA THOMAS, DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER (Tony Award), PHYLICIA AYERS-ALLEN, EVELYN THOMAS, HINTON BATTLE and ANDRE DE SHIELDS as "The Wiz" ..... CREDITS: Book by WILLIAM F. BROWN adapted from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. FRANK BAUM; Music and Lyrics by CHARLIE SMALLS (Tony Award); Sets designed by TOM H. JOHN; Costumes designed by GEOFFREY HOLDER (Tony Award); Choreographed by GEORGE FAISON (Tony Award); Directed by GEOFFREY HOLDER (Tony Award); Produced by KEN HARPER ..... DETAILS: The twelve page playbill measures 5 3/4" X 9" inches and includes full production credits, cast list, scenes and musical numbers and bios of each of the leading actors and members of the creative team, but no cast photos ..... CUT SONGS: The list of musical numbers includes "Don't Cry, Girl" and "Which Where, Which What, Witch Why?" which were cut out-of-town ..... CONDITION: With the exception of light soiling to the cover and moderate creasing, this playbill is in excellent condition and will make a wonderful addition to the collection of any musical theatre aficionado or historian. This item will be carefully packaged in a protective, carded sleeve and backed by stiff cardboard.