How do you produce a making of documentary of a “live” TV show? For the third year in a row, NBC’s Peacock Productions will show us with The Making of The Wiz Live!, tonight at 8 p.m. ET. The special promises to offer an all-access pass to the celebrities, music, costumes and design featured in the upcoming NBC special The Wiz Live! which airs next Thursday. (More on that next week on Adweek.com.)
“It’s thrilling to see such an elaborate production, around a masterpiece as iconic as The Wiz, come to life,” Peacock Productions president and GM Sharon Scott told TVNewser. “The Making of franchise is a great tease for the audience as they count down to the amazing live performance.”
The Wiz Live! is based on the beloved Broadway musical and features David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion, NE-YO as the Tin Man, and Elijah Kelley as the Scarecrow. Mary J. Blige plays the Wicked Witch of the West, and Queen Latifah stars as the Wiz, who holds the keys to the Emerald City.
“Seventeen state-of-the-art sets, some 75 costumes, more than 20 music and dance numbers, and we have been filming since the first days of casting,” The Making of The Wiz Live! director Mary Murphy said. “This is a chance to see what it takes for NE-YO, Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige and the rest of the cast and crew to be ready for prime time.”
Peacock Productions has also been behind the “making of” specials ahead of 2013’s Sound of Music Live, as well as last year’s Peter Pan Live.