Original director John Badham stepped down when he objected to 33-year-old Diana Ross being cast as a teenage Dorothy. The character was changed to a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher, but by then Sidney Lumet had already replaced Badham.
In his book "Making Movies," Sidney Lumet admits that filming the Emerald City sequence on the plaza at the World Trade Center had to be cut short because of wind and scheduling. The red sequence had to be shortened due to a lighting error, and there was no time to re-shoot. The Port Authority would not allow more time to fix mistakes.
The original New York City production of "The Wiz" opened at the Majestic Theater on January 5, 1975 starring Stephanie Mills. It ran for 1,672 performances, won the 1975 Tony Awards for the Best Musical and Score, and was nominated for Best Book.
The first song that Michael Jackson sings, "You Can't Win," was originally written for the stage version for the Winkies to sing to Dorothy about the futility of escaping from Evillene. The song was cut from the stage version of the musical during previews, but was included in the film as the Scarecrow's song.
The duet between Michael Jackson and Diana Ross on "Ease On Down the Road" was released as a single by MCA Records in September, 1978. The single just missed the Top 40 radio pop charts, stalling at #41. However, the song hit #17 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart that same year.
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