Tamron Hallchanneled a character she’s long admired and resonated with forHalloweenthis year.
On Tuesday’s episode oftheTamron Hallshow, the host transforms into aDiana Ross-inspired version of Dorothy fromThe Wiz, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal. It’s a decision Hall says “feels so right.”
“Many times in interviews, I have referencedThe Wizard of Ozbecause so much of my life, I feel, lines up with the character,” the television personality, 53, tells PEOPLE ahead of the Halloween episode’s taping.
Tamron Hall (left) and Diana Ross (right).ABC/Jeff Neira
ABC/Jeff Neira
He shares that he based the look off the poster for the 1978 version ofThe Wiz, starring Ross, pulling on the “color” and “vibrant” feel of the image.
Ross, 79, was an inspiration for Hall’s hair and makeup team, too.Johnny Wright, her hairstylist of over 20 years, says the look was “the easiest we’ve had in all the five seasons,” to which her makeup artistRaul Oteroagreed, adding, “Previous years, it was more of a production.”
Johnny Wright and Raul Otero prep Tamron Hall ahead of taping her Halloween episode.ABC/Jeff Neira
Cox, 49, plays Glinda in thehighly-anticipated upcoming Broadway revival, and returns for Monday’s episode, too, along with several other cast members fromTheWizincluding Dorothy (Nichelle Lewis), the Tinman (Phillip Johnson Richardson), the Scarecrow (The VoicealumAvery Wilson) and the Lion (Kyle Ramar Freeman).
Tamron Hall performs with the Broadway cast of ‘The Wiz’ for the Halloween episode of the ‘Tamron Hall Show’.ABC/Jeff Neira
Hall raves about having the “phenomenal” cast with her for one of her favorite episodes of the year, though she admits that the preparation that went into the show was not so glamorous.
“Rehearsal? Not so fun. When you’re with Broadway dancers and performers, and you’re trying to do it in glittery high heels,” she says of the episode’s opening number, where she performs “Ease On Down The Road” with Lewis, Richardson, Wilson and Freeman.
She adds of the incoming Broadway cast, “They were very gracious. You know our season 5 — the number 5 — represents grace, curiosity and freedom. So they were very curious if I could dance, they gave me the grace when they saw that I couldn’t, and they’ve given me the freedom to do some interpretive styles.”
Deborah Cox dresses as Glinda from ‘The Wiz’ on the ‘Tamron Hall Show’.ABC/Jeff Neira
Reflection on her upbringing — Hall hails from Luling, Texas, which she says “looks like the town featured inThe Wizard of Oz” — the Emmy-Award winning talk show host says that her journey has paralleled Dorothy’s in more ways than one.
“I am from a very small town, and for me, New York is and was Oz,” Hall admits. “It really is.”
She notes that she often thinks about one of Dorothy’s quotes from the movie: “It was in you all along.”
“I feel that way about my life. You know, when people ask me, ‘Are you surprised that you have this show?’ I am in some ways. But when I see my name on the show, it just feels so right.”
To create an episode that was an ode to Oz and the story that has resonated with her for so long, then, “just felt right.”
“It’s our love letter to Broadway, our love letter toThe Wiz,” she says.
In years past, she’s dressed up asHalle Bailey’s Ariel fromThe Little Mermaid, a very pregnantCardi Band even another rendition of Diana Ross — she recreated the “You Can’t Hurry Love” singer’s look from herLive in Central Parktour movie.
Hall says of the annual episode, “Ours really is a love letter to some of the glamor, some of the fun, some of the things that we’ve always loved.”
Tamron Hall dresses as a Diana Ross-inspired Dorothy from ‘The Wiz’ for the Halloween episode of the ‘Tamron Hall Show’.ABC/Jeff Neira
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Hall adds that “the team is phenomenal” as she praises the village that it takes to prepare for a show of this scale. “We really put it all in. We come to celebrate Halloween — or should I sayHall-oween?”
It’s a holiday that her name isliterallywritten all over. “I was meant for this,” she says as she jokingly refers to the day as “Hall-oween,” pronounced as though it was her own surname. “I was born for this.”
Tamron Hallairs weekdays (check local listings).
Kyle Ramar Freedman, Nichelle Lewis, Tamron Hall, Deborah Cox, Avery Wilson, and Phillip Johnson Richards on ‘Tamron Hall’.ABC/Jeff Neira
source: people.com
