Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah to Appear in The Wiz Live!

Blige are the newest stars to join NBC’s live adaptation of the ‘The Wiz Live, ‘ in major roles.

The Wiz, which is based on the classic L. Frank Baum novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was first staged on Broadway in 1975, and went on to win seven Tony awards.

As for Blige, she recently tested her acting skills on Empire and black-ish.

The superstar pair join original stage star Stephanie Mills, who was previously announced to be taking on the role of Auntie Em. Blige have been tapped for the live telecast of The Wiz. She starred as “Mama” Morton and Motormouth Maybelle in the big screen versions of CHICAGO and HAIRSPRAY respectively, both produced by Zadan and Neil Meron, who are at the helm of THE WIZ LIVE!

As for Dorothy, NBC is still holding a nationwide search to find a new, fresh-faced talent.

“I can’t wait to watch Mary bring the badness that is Evillene”, said director Kenny Leon. Blige’s evil Evillene holds sway over her minions, the Winkies and Winged Monkeys, and captures Dorothy and her friends to avenge her sister Evvamean and get her silver slippers back.

According to Variety, one of the upcoming show’s executive producers Craig Zadan, made the announcement today. Famed choreographer Fatima Robinson is also on board.

NBC announced in March that The Wiz will be its third live musical broadcast, following The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood and Peter Pan with Allison Williams.