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http://youtube.com/watch?v=8rY9zOd0f-k&feature=PlayList&p=59A2079B63475269&index=0

Broadway musical The Wiz opened in 1975,is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum & exclusively features African American actors.
It ran for four years and over 1600 performances, and won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Motown Productions acquired the film rights to The Wiz in 1977. Motown singer and actress Diana Ross asked Motown CEO Berry Gordy to cast her as Dorothy but Gordy declined, feeling the thirty-three year old Ross was far too old for the part. However, Ross contacted Rob Cohen of Universal Pictures, who offered to have Universal finance the film if Ross were to play Dorothy, at which point Gordy acquiesed.
The $22 million production was poorly received by critics and grossed only $12 million during its original theatrical release. Its commercial failure helped to bring to an end the stream of all-black films that had begun with the "blaxploitation film" era of the 1970s.
In later years, due to its recurrent broadcasts on television, The Wiz has become something of a cult classic among African-American audiences.

(Wikipedia)