Schele Williams Reimagines Broadway Classics with Historical Depth and New Life

Director, actor, and author Schele Williams is undertaking the significant task of giving "new life"—the core meaning of revival—to two iconic Broadway musicals: Aida and The Wiz. As an original cast member of Aida and a lifelong fan of The Wiz, Williams is deeply aware of the cultural weight these stories carry, especially within the context of Black theater. Her goal is to ensure these new iterations resonate powerfully with contemporary and future audiences.

Reorienting Aida: History and Humanity

Williams's revival of Aida, currently running at AFAS Circustheater in the Netherlands, underwent a massive rethinking during the pandemic pause. She and the team, which included original book writer David Henry Hwang, decided to "break the show open and do a full rewrite," acknowledging that the world and the artists themselves had shifted.

The key to this rewriting was rigorous research into Nubian and Egyptian history, which Williams felt was missing from the original staging. She is weaving this historical accuracy into the costumes, set, characters, and script without making the show feel like a "documentary."

Challenging Racial and Gender Tropes

Williams initiated changes by focusing on gender and race roles:

• Gender Roles: Research revealed that women in ancient times often held equal status, serving as physicians and having rights to own property and initiate divorce. Williams explained this was simply "the way it was." This thinking led to a major script change: Aida’s parent is now a kanadke (warrior queen), rather than a patriarch, a change Williams happily called getting "the Disney show with the mom."

  
  

• Colorism: Williams is removing colorism as a plot device. She found that the power dynamics between Egyptians and Nubians were historically based on religious and geographical grounds, not race or color, as implied in the original Broadway musical (and Verdi's opera). Williams felt relying on race to drive the plot was "lazy storytelling."

This decision to push the boundaries of imagination and humanity allowed the casting to be more inclusive. Williams recalled seeing Black actors audition for the roles of Radames (traditionally non-Black) and Amneris and witnessing how many "literally cried," feeling a door to these roles, and this show, was finally open to them.

Changing the Rehearsal Room

Williams's new role as director also brought a responsibility to change the dynamics of the rehearsal process. She recalled that in the original 2000 Aida rehearsals, there was an "unspoken" and "taboo" avoidance of discussing slavery, a prominent aspect of the story.

Though the nature of slavery in ancient Egypt and Nubia differed from that in the Americas, Williams knew the topic needed to be addressed honestly. She realized she needed to be the person "behind the table" who could see the Black actors in the room and lead the conversation, ensuring that no one "ever had to go through that on my watch again."

Embracing the Legacy of The Wiz

Williams is simultaneously working on the highly anticipated revival of The Wiz, which begins a national tour this month in Baltimore and is scheduled to land on Broadway next spring. It will be the musical's first major New York revival in nearly 45 years (since the 2009 Encores staging).

In contrast to Aida, Williams does not feel the need to "correct" or "excavate" the material of The Wiz (though Amber Ruffin has provided minor tweaks to William Brown's original script). Instead, her focus is on ensuring the story impacts a new generation, just as it did for her when she was cast in a high school production, changing her career trajectory.

Williams’s personal guiding light for the production is her daughters. She reflected on the universal challenge Dorothy faces in finding her place: "You gotta find your tribe... That’s what I think about when I think about Dorothy and her journey of The Wiz."

Williams wants her daughters' generation to have an emotional ownership of this beloved musical. Her hope is that they feel "it’s theirs and they’re just borrowing something that belonged to Mama." By passing down the tale, she encourages multiple generations to love their own versions and keep the tradition vibrant.