43 min.

THERE'S NO ONE LIKE YOU WITH ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS The Audition

    • Uitvoerende kunst

André De Shields, a self-styled Black hippie eager to live in "the citadel of self-expression," made his way to New York City from Chicago in the early 1970s to play Xander the Unconquerable, Ruler of the Sixth Dimension in Warp, billed as "The World's First Science Fiction Epic Adventure Play in Serial Form." It bombed. But soon after, De Shields talked his way into auditioning for the titular role in The Wiz, a groundbreaking Black reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. What happened next changed the course of American Theater. Join Broadway legend and Tony Award winner André De Shields this holiday season, along with Stellene Volandes and William Li, for one of the greatest audition stories ever told. 

André De Shields, a self-styled Black hippie eager to live in "the citadel of self-expression," made his way to New York City from Chicago in the early 1970s to play Xander the Unconquerable, Ruler of the Sixth Dimension in Warp, billed as "The World's First Science Fiction Epic Adventure Play in Serial Form." It bombed. But soon after, De Shields talked his way into auditioning for the titular role in The Wiz, a groundbreaking Black reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. What happened next changed the course of American Theater. Join Broadway legend and Tony Award winner André De Shields this holiday season, along with Stellene Volandes and William Li, for one of the greatest audition stories ever told. 

43 min.