Kail ’99 to Direct “The Wiz” in New York City

Thomas Kail ’99 who received a Tony Award nomination for his direction for the musical hit “In the Heights” (2008 Tony Award for best musical) on Broadway will stage the Encores! Summer Stars production of “The Wiz” this summer at City Center in New York City for a three-week run, June 12 to July 3. Kail will re-team with choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler who won a Tony for his work on “In the Heights.”

“The Wiz,” a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz with an African-American cast, won seven Tony Awards, including best musical, in 1975. The show has not been revived on Broadway recently, though sometimes productions at Encores! transfer to a Broadway theater (the long-running Broadway revival of “Chicago” began at Encores! as did the recent Broadway revival of “Gypsy”).

Kail directed the play “Broke-ology” last summer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival which was well-reviewed.