FIRST LOOK: Check Out The Wiz Live!'s Edgy, High-Fashion Costumes
The Wiz Live! may not be airing until Dec. 3, but PEOPLE has the exclusive First Look photos of Dorothy and her friends in costume.
“We’re creating a fantasy land that also is inspired by some of the imagery you’d see today,” Tony-nominated costume designer Paul Tazewell says in the next issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. “It’s the edgiest of high-fashion from now but in the world of the Emerald City.”
Shanice Williams as Dorothy
“It’s greatly influenced by where we start: a contemporary Kansas,” says Tazewell. “Dorothy is dressed as a modern teenager.”
Elijah Kelley as the Scarecrow
“He’s a fashion-forward scarecrow,” says Tazewell. “His suit is something you would find at a secondhand store but when he embodies it, becomes much more hip – reminiscent of Basquiat character.”
Ne-Yo as the Tin Man
“He is a woodsman translated into the world of tin,” says Tazewell. “It’s much more literal to work clothing than it is created out of a patchwork of metal. And it’s topped off with a tree-worker’s metal hat.”
David Alan Grier as the Cowardly Lion
“We see him as a real lion,” says Tazewell. “His updated look is a mane that is made out of dreads and a vest that is styled in a more contemporary way.”
For more on
The Wiz Live! on NBC, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday