First Look: NBC's Live Journey Down the Yellow Brick Road

NBC embarks on its latest musical holiday tradition: a three-hour live event production of the groundbreaking Broadway show that brought Oz to life in a funky sing-along journey down the yellow brick road. It airs Thursday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Watch a first-look sneak peek in the player below.

Winner of 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, the original massive Broadway hit spawned a feature film starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. Now, a Tony-winning creative team, the imaginative Cirque du Soleil Theatrical and a diverse cast of showstoppers create an eye-popping new take unlike anything ever seen. From Executive Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron comes an adventure of stunning spectacle and toe-tapping music.

Rising star Shanice Williams, an 18-year-old New Jersey native who has been raised and trained in musical theater, is the new Dorothy. Williams was selected out of hundreds of applicants nationwide who had auditioned to portray the iconic role of a Kansas farm girl who gets swept up in a tornado and is sent to the mysterious land of Oz. With five years of musical training that also includes extensive dance and piano, Williams has co-starred in several local productions, including West Side Story, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, 42nd Street, Seussical and Pippin. Last year Williams was nominated for best leading actress in a musical at the Paper Mill Playhouse’s annual Rising Star Awards.