ATLANTA -- Atlanta's own Kenny Leon is being thrust again into the spotlight with NBC's production of The Wiz Live!
The classic story of the Wizard of Oz, introduced as a play 40 years ago, will bring multiple generations to the TV screen.
Kenny is overseeing more than 500 people on a sound stage in Long Island. That sound stage will transform into the Wizard of Oz before a live audience on NBC Thursday night.
"Textually and tonally it's different," Leon said. "It's the best that theater and film offer.
Leon's "magic sauce" perhaps starts with his trademark tennis shoes – he said Adidas sent him special Wiz Live shoes.
Broadway's leading African American Tony Award-winning director is keenly aware of the pressure.
"You get one shot," Leon said. "There's no net."
They've been rehearsing since October, including 10 to 12 hour days the last few weeks tweaking
Production includes 11 cameras, 10 actors, Cirque Du Soleil acrobats, and live TV transitions.
"You could be at the junkyard and five moments later you're now at the forest," Leon.
Leon promises the experience won't be like theater, a movie or even a TV show.
"This is a hybrid of all of that," Leon said. "We take the good things about theater, the good things about musicals, the good things about television and come up with something that's none of the above.
Back in 2004, Leon directed The Wiz in Atlanta with a youth ensemble at Seven Stages Theater.
"I learned a lot in doing that production in Atlanta with all those young folks," Leon said. "I learned from that, so now I'm doing it here. It's the same things but I just know a little more about how to make this work, and this is the first time that The Wiz has had its own emotional journey."
The former director of Atlanta's Alliance Theater -- and political science major at Atlanta University -- has eased on down the road to huge acclaim that now has big name actors lining up to work with him.
"When they asked me about who you want to play The Wiz, it was no other discussion, I just said Queen Latifah, without even thinking,' Leon said. "I wasn't even thinking gender. I just said, Queen Latifah."
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Leon calls the production "one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had in life."
The storyteller with nerves of steel as the clock counts down to Thursday night -- not just to get it absolutely right on live TV, but also not to disappoint the generations of people who love this iconic story.
"My job is to honor what the original folks did with this 40 years ago but to make it relevant to now."
The Wiz Live! airs at 8 p.m. on NBC.
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