i was in love with diana ross and michael jackson. richard pryor. oh my god. again. >> reporter: alan mingo jr. takes on this production's title character of the wiz. >> the wizard of oz, where it came from, is one of the biggest folklores in america. you see a lion and a tin man, the scarecrow, you kind of know what the captions are. now you're listening on how we made our character. i feel like our art is becoming educated. for me, it's about finding your community to help meet your path. and you may be disappointed along the way, but you've got to keep going. and you can't believe everyone who crosses your path. there will always be roadblocks. for me, "the wiz" is about that, but to me it's no different than the other otherses of this wonderful story. >> reporter: this latest production updated the dialogue and music to keep up with the times. >> the director was like, we don't want him to be mean or intimidating the same way as -- that we're used to. we want to do a new spin. and that allowed me to breathe new life and to add my own sort of charm, my own

it's going to be transformed into studio 54, think the music of sheikh, diana ross, boney m, that isr everyone, and if you can't make it to london, you can follow along tonight on bbc two, and you can also follow along on bbc iplayer and you can listen to everything on bbc sounds, even a bit of discomfort you miriam. irate of discomfort you miriam. we will have to talk _ of discomfort you miriam. we will have to talk about _ of discomfort you miriam. we will have to talk about that _ of discomfort you miriam. we will have to talk about that disco - of discomfort you miriam. we will| have to talk about that disco thing when i mention exam, emer mccarthy, thank you very much indeed. back to our top story, and it outage thatis back to our top story, and it outage that is affecting things globally, some updated news not on how travel has been affected. in the last few minutes, read data that from cerium data seen that 4000 700 flights have nearly been cancelled today, with that figure subject to change as the day progresses, we are not sure how many of those are due to the outage —— outa

i was diana ross' opening act. >> anthony: wow. >> i worked with him, right? see, you haven't aged -- i just found my hairline, it's on him. [ laughter ] >> cleto: thanked. >> anthony: speaking of age, you look good. how old are you now? >> i'm 68. >> anthony: 68. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> anthony: 68! >> 68. >> anthony: okay. >> 68. i mean, i look good. i'm not allowed to do the stuff that i did when i was younger. i'm not allowed -- like, you can't -- can i just say something? >> anthony: say it. >> how old are you now? how old are you now? >> cleto: 81 years old. >> wow. [ cheers and applause ] him and mick jagger, same. [ laughter ] i find that as you get older, even if you want to do things, you're not allowed to do things. you find that? like i -- can i stand up for a second? >> anthony: stand up. >> i'm not allowed -- if i'm excited about something, and i'm excited about being here, i'm not -- you can't -- you can't -- [ laughter ] i'm not trying to be funny. [ laughter ] if you say to like a 5-year-old,

i love that, diana ross, you can't hurry love.n reference to the democrats trying to get mr. biden elected early? i don't know. as you take a look down sixth avenue on this holiday week, not bad weather for the 2nd of july. if let's get right to the it. democrats want to squash any talk of swapping out president biden at the democratic national convention. good morning, lauren. lauren: morning. ashley: what are the democrats planning to do? lauren: according to a report, hay want to powrmally nominate him about a month before the democratic national convention, so this would be july the 21st. the date insures he's on the ballot and there isn't an open convention in august. july 21st, actually, is also the day the convention credentials committee meets virtually, so they're trying to do everything they can to say he is the only person that can beat donald trump. ashley: okay. well, we shall see. lauren, thank you very much. now this, a new poll shows 66% of people do have doubts about president biden's mental fitness after a watchi

"mo money mo problems" was a diana ross sample that an older crowd could hear and say, "well, that soundsg frantic ♪ ♪ like sting, i'm tantric, like snickers ♪ ♪ guaranteed to satisfy ♪ - and there's r & b and rap mixing for new jack swing. - ♪ back to the matter, the new jack swing ♪ ♪ is the sound that can flatter ♪ ♪ any other sound around town doesn't give the ♪ ♪ same type of feeling ♪ - teddy riley was the big new-jack-swing producer, and he produced everybody. - ♪ all i wanna do is zoom-a-zoom, zoom, zoom ♪ ♪ and a poom-poom ♪ - ♪ just shake your rump ♪ - he had wreckx-n-effect; he had his own group, guy; he did heavy d & the boyz... - ♪ we got our own thang ♪ - it all had this kind of rhythm that made you have to dance. - ♪ shorty, get down, good lord ♪ - new jack swing was someone that could sing with the level of stevie wonder, with the breakbeat background of public enemy. and marry those two. - ♪ baby, i can get you in my ride ♪ ♪ i like the way you work it ♪ - ♪ no diggity ♪ - "no diggity" is the masterpiece of the... [laughs] of the new jack swing era. - ♪ mm-hmm ♪ - ♪ we ou

nina simone to diana ross. to cassandra wilson.ssandra wilson to audra mcdonald to you be 40 to sting singing it. it radiated through the culture, touching, aroused and inspiring a much broader, diverse audience than it did when first appeared. that's presumably why, 60 years after dismissing it as, quote, a prime piece of propaganda for the acp time magazine been crowned the song of the century since the since billie holiday introduced it. our capacity to be shocked has shrunk. taboos have disappeared and novelty itself has grown more novel. but always there will be this unique and uncanny song. the song that was also an event. the question is no longer have you heard fruit, but this strange fruit ever happened since and will should or could a strange fruit ever happen again? thank you. our next speaker be speaker will be margo jefferson a graduate of columbia university school of journalism. margo jefferson was an associate editor at newsweek and an assistant professor of journalism at nyu university before joining joining the st

nina simone to diana ross. to cassandra wilson.ssandra wilson to audra mcdonald to you be 40 to sting singing it. it radiated through the culture, touching, aroused and inspiring a much broader, diverse audience than it did when first appeared. that's presumably why, 60 years after dismissing it as, quote, a prime piece of propaganda for the acp time magazine been crowned the song of the century since the since billie holiday introduced it. our capacity to be shocked has shrunk. taboos have disappeared and novelty itself has grown more novel. but always there will be this unique and uncanny song. the song that was also an event. the question is no longer have you heard fruit, but this strange fruit ever happened since and will should or could a strange fruit ever happen again? thank you. our next speaker be speaker will be margo jefferson a graduate of columbia university school of journalism. margo jefferson was an associate editor at newsweek and an assistant professor of journalism at nyu university before joining joining the st

you know, we had diana ross, we had paul mccartney, we had the pet shop boys, we had elton john, all,eople who are no longer big time. and here they are making political statements all of a sudden, i mean, who gives a stuff what charlotte church has to say about anything? the thing is that, you know, that i was a bit disappointed in, in, the, what do you call them? banksy's, statement there with, with the not because of the reasons that are cleverly was outlining. but, you know, banksy in my head has always been a bit of a rebel, a bit of an innovator. and i just thought this was all very bourgeois. well, that's the whole point. middle class as what you said. and it was just so predictable. he's joined the liberal elite and it's just so predictable. benjamin. that's stupid. >> that is the whole point. i mean, glastonbury, as i said in yesterday, used to be, you know, anti anti government, you know fighting against the you know the man and anti—establishment. now they just parrot the same old lines. they hear on mainstream media. and, and also by the way just to add at the end just lea