Brady and Grier Among the Cast of The Wiz at La Jolla
Principal casting as been announced for The Wiz, directed by Des McAnuff, at La Jolla Playhouse. The cast will feature Nikki M. James as Dorothy, Wayne Brady as the Scarecrow, Tituss Burgess as the Lion, Michael Benjamin Washington as the Tinman, David Alan Grier as The Wiz, E. Faye Butler as Evillene, Valarie Pettiford as Aunt Em and Glinda, Heather Lee as Addaperle and Orville Mendoza as Uncle Henry.
James has been featured on Broadway in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and All Shook Up. Other notable credits include the recent off-Broadway musical Bernarda Alba, the Encores! mounting of House of Flowers and Babes in Arms at Goodspeed Musicals.
Brady is best known as the Emmy Award-winning host and executive producer of The Wayne Brady Show, a syndicated talk show that went off the air in 2004. A comedian, writer and performer, Brady began his career on stage. His theatrical credits include A Chorus Line, Fences, I'm Not Rappaport, A Raisin in the Sun and Blade to the Heat at the Mark Taper Forum. He made his Broadway debut in Chicago in 2004. In addition to The Wayne Brady Show, his television credits include the improvisational comedy program Whose Line is it Anyway? (for which he was awarded an Emmy for Individual Performance, Variety or Music Program), Kevin Hill and Girlfriends.
Burgess is currently appearing on Broadway in McAnuff's production of Jersey Boys, which he also appeared in at La Jolla. He additionally appeared on the Great White Way in Good Vibrations.
http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=533929
James has been featured on Broadway in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and All Shook Up. Other notable credits include the recent off-Broadway musical Bernarda Alba, the Encores! mounting of House of Flowers and Babes in Arms at Goodspeed Musicals.
Brady is best known as the Emmy Award-winning host and executive producer of The Wayne Brady Show, a syndicated talk show that went off the air in 2004. A comedian, writer and performer, Brady began his career on stage. His theatrical credits include A Chorus Line, Fences, I'm Not Rappaport, A Raisin in the Sun and Blade to the Heat at the Mark Taper Forum. He made his Broadway debut in Chicago in 2004. In addition to The Wayne Brady Show, his television credits include the improvisational comedy program Whose Line is it Anyway? (for which he was awarded an Emmy for Individual Performance, Variety or Music Program), Kevin Hill and Girlfriends.
Burgess is currently appearing on Broadway in McAnuff's production of Jersey Boys, which he also appeared in at La Jolla. He additionally appeared on the Great White Way in Good Vibrations.
http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=533929
