Tucson to 'ease on down the road' to 2026, thanks to 'The Wiz'

Sheherazade Holman had one question for the caller that August day in 2024: "How did you find me?"

It wasn't like the singer, who has backed superstars including Ed Sheeran and Chaka Khan, was at home in New York when the phone rang.

She was on tour in Japan with Christina Aguilera.

"This came to me out of the blue," Holman said of the phone call from "The Wiz" casting director. "He's like, 'Hey, we want to invite you to come in to read for Aunt Em/Evillene' and I was just like, huh? Because we haven't had a lot of conversation, you know."

After several auditions back in the States, the casting director asked Holman — who goes by her first name Sheherazade professionally — to sing Glinda's signature song "Believe In Yourself."

"I sang it, and they said, 'You have a call back for Glinda'," she recalled. "And I was like, 'Wow, this is crazy'."

Holman will be on the Centennial Hall stage Jan. 6-11 when Broadway in Tucson opens the new year with "The Wiz."

"I'm excited about this because we just had 'Wicked' (2022) and now we have 'The Wiz'," said Broadway in Tucson Executive Director Mario Di Vetta. "What a way to start 2026."

Tucson is the first stop of the new year for "The Wiz" revival, which went on tour a year ago and is expected to continue through 2026.

It is the first time the show, a reimagination of "The Wizard of Oz" through a contemporary African-American lens, has toured in 40 years.

The all-new show is helmed by veteran stage director Schele Williams ("Motown the Musical," Broadway revival of "Aida") making her Broadway directorial debut; and Tony- and Emmy-nominated writer/comedian Amber Ruffin ("Late Night with Seth Meyers," "The Amber Ruffin Show"), who updated William F. Brown's book from the 1975 production to add more contemporary references and language.

D. Jerome, who plays The Tin Man, said Ruffin's iteration updates the cultural and social references to "make sure that it can reach audiences across the board."

 "Charlie Smalls' music is just timeless," he added. "I think those messages of believing in yourself and easing on down the road ... 'don't you carry nothing that might be a load' — I think the lyrics definitely kind of help you move along."

"Ease on Down the Road" is the most iconic of the songs, which also include The Lion's soulful lament "You Can't Win," Dorothy's homesick ballad "Home" and The Tin Man's dream-out-loud musing "What Would I Do if I Could Feel?"

Holman's Glinda, the good witch, has two songs in the production: "He's the Wizard," which introduces Dorothy to the Wizard of Oz not long after she's arrived in Munchkinland and learns she's killed the Wicked Witch of the East; and "Believe in Yourself," the powerful ballad at the end with the message of trusting yourself and your abilities. 

This is the first Broadway tour for Holman, a classically trained vocalist who flirted with the idea of doing opera when she was in college.  

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"I was trying to be ambitious approaching my senior year and I wanted to do 'Shéhérazade' by Ravel," she said during a phone call from a Georgia tour stop in early December. "But I was a bit too ambitious. It's very long. I didn't have a lot of time. It was in French. And granted, I sang in French before. I was just like, I don't have the capacity."

Her father, who Holman said was not part of her life growing up, gave Holman her first name; she said she was told he was a big fan of "One Thousand and One Nights," also known as "Arabian Nights," the centuries-old collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk tales.

Holman started singing when she was in third grade, and from fourth grade through 12th, she attended the Choir Academy of Harlem, a predominantly Black and Hispanic school where she sang in the traveling mixed voice choir.

"I was immersed in the culture of classical music, singing Italian arias, doing pop, doing gospel," she recalled. "I wore a uniform every day, and we sang the National Anthem in big assemblies, and so I was immersed in this Black joy and having such amazing music thrown at me at a young age. Music has always been a part of me."

Where she got her vocal talent is a mystery. She was told her father played guitar and her grandfather sang. Her mother isn't much of a vocalist, she joked, although she "can make a joyful noise."

"But listen, I say all gifts come from God and we all have a gift," said Holman, 35, who has spent years touring and performing as a backup vocalist with big-name artists including Sabrina Carpenter and Gregory Porter. "I'm grateful that I have the gift of singing and I can use it."

"The Wiz" is Jerome's second national tour — he spent 11 months in the ensemble with the Angelica Tour of "Hamilton" — but it's his first in a character role. 

Jerome, who counts University of Arizona School of Dance Director Duane Cyrus as one of his biggest mentors, has performed in several productions of "The Wiz," including a show in 2015 with choreographer George Faison's Faison Firehouse Theater in Harlem; Faison won a Tony for his work on "The Wiz" in 1975.

That Harlem show also featured Andre de Shields, who originated the role of The Wiz.

He also played The Tin Man in a production with Virginia Repertory Theatre in 2019.

The Abrams iteration of the play downplays the 1970s disco-pop-funk vibe and updates the sound to more modern R&B and pop. The story also elevates the characters and narrative "in terms of Black excellence and progress" as a way to "shine a light on that resilience."

"Even if people don't understand a lot about pop soul, R&B culture, I think coupling that with the messages in these songs and the script itself really brings a sort of renaissance to it, and helps people see, 'Hey, maybe I do like R&B music after all'," said Jerome, who made his Broadway debut in 2023 in the Michael Jackson jukebox musical "MJ The Musical."  

"The Wiz" is not the only time we will see Jerome on a Tucson stage this winter. He joins his mentor Cyrus and U of A Traveling Dance Ensemble Feb. 19-22 as part of the 2026 Tucson Desert Song Festival. He said he will mainly be singing and telling stories. To learn more, visit tucsondesertsongfestival.org.