Watch ‘The Wiz’s’ Dorothy sing in auditions for live NBC show

Shanice Williams will step into Dorothy’s ruby red slippers for NBC’s “The Wiz Live!� a musical adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz.�

The 18-year-old theater actress joins Grammy winners Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige and Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier for the live event, slated to air on Dec. 3

The network held open auditions in New York in June and said it plucked Williams out of hundreds of applicants hoping to play the Kansas farm girl who is swept to the land of Oz during a tornado.

Williams, a New Jersey native, has had five years of musical theater, including extensive dance and piano, and previously appeared in productions of “West Side Story,� “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,� “42nd Street,� “Seussical� and “Pippin.�

NBC has previously cast well-known stars in its leading roles, tapping country singer Carrie Underwood for 2013’s “The Sound of Music� and “Girls� star Allison Williams for last year’s “Peter Pan Live.� Despite high ratings for both productions, both stars were widely panned for their roles.

The production’s celebrity quotient was upped last week when the network announced its casting of Queen Latifah as the powerful Wiz and Blige as the Wicked Witch of the West, Evillene. On Tuesday, the network announced that Grier will play the courage-seeking Cowardly Lion.

Theater actress Stephanie Mills, who played Dorothy in the 1975 Broadway production, will play Auntie Em in the holiday production.

The African American-oriented “The Wiz� originated onstage in the 1970s, and the Broadway show went on to win seven Tony Awards, including best musical. The big-screen musical adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s children’s tale hit theaters in 1978 and starred Diana Ross as Dorothy and a young Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who worked on “Chicago,� “Hairspray,� and NBC’s “Sound of Music� and “Peter Pan� shows, are producing the television event. Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon is the show’s stage director, Matthew Diamond will serve as the television director and three-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein will provide new written material for the production.

Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.