The Broadway classic “The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical ‘Wonderful Wizard of Oz’” opened on Broadway on January 5, 1975. The musical recast L. Frank Baum's “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” through the lens of African American music and culture. In 1984, critic Frank Rich pinned down the show’s success, telling the New York Times:"What made The Wiz surprisingly moving the first time around was that its creators found a connection between Baum's Kansas fantasy and the pride of urban black Americans. When Glinda, the good witch, musically instructed Dorothy to 'believe in herself,' she seemed to be delivering a broader inspirational message.”