Playbill for "The Wiz": Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A Playbill magazine for an October 1978 production of The Wiz at the Broadway Theatre, from the personal collection of Clarice Taylor who played Addaperle. The front cover has a yellow masthead with black text reading "PLAYBILL / THE BROADWAY THEATRE." Illustration below depicts a stylized silhouette of a figure with swirling lines extending from the head and back. Black text under the image reads "THE WIZ / © 1974, THE WIZ CO."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1978
• Published by: Playbill, American, founded 1884
• Subject of: Broadway Theatre, American, founded 1924
• Owned by: Clarice Taylor, American, 1917 - 2011
• Subject of: Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian American, 1930 - 2014
• Subject of: Stephanie Mills, American, born 1957
• Subject of: Gregg Burge, American, 1957 - 1998
• Subject of: Ben Harney, American, born 1952
• Subject of: Ken Prymus, American, born 1946
• Type: playbills
• Medium: ink on paper with metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 9 × 5 5/8 × 1/4 in. (22.9 × 14.3 × 0.6 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Object number: 2013.188.36
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of William and James Thomas and family in memory of Clarice Taylor
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Playbill used by permission. All rights reserved, Playbill Inc Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.