She may be playing Dorothy, but Shanice Williams is feeling like Cinderella at the ball.
The 19-year-old star of “The Wiz Live!” — airing live on NBC Thursday — is still getting her head around the Manhattan apartment she was given when the show was rehearsing in Midtown. The spread was “just mine, by myself, for a month — which is crazy!”
And then there were the shopping sprees on the network’s dime, trolling stores like Lord & Taylor for hours for “a lot of cute outfits” — plus the experience of modeling glam eveningwear at the Out Hotel for The Post.
It’s fairy-tale stuff for any teenager, let alone one who grew up in suburban New Jersey, the daughter of a post office worker and a security guard.
But the best part, Williams says, is easing on down the road in such starry company — with David Alan Grier’s Cowardly Lion, Mary J. Blige’s Wicked Witch of the West, Ne-Yo’s Tin Man, Elijah Kelley’s Scarecrow and Queen Latifah’s Wiz.
“We saw over 600 young women with a broad range of experience, but I was drawn to a specific light in Shanice’s eye,” says Kenny Leon, the Tony-winning director (“A Raisin in the Sun”) who’s helming “The Wiz Live!,” which comes hot on the heels of NBC’s live “The Sound of Music” with Carrie Underwood and “Peter Pan” with Allison Williams.
This time, the network didn’t set its sights on a star — at least not where Dorothy was concerned.
“We wanted someone who looks like a 17-year-old American girl and brings authenticity to the role,” Leon says. “She has to seamlessly transition from dancing to singing to acting and do it with grace.
“Shanice has all those skills. Plus, she sings the hell out of ‘Home’!”
Home for Williams these days is Rahway, NJ, a town better known for its prison than for the performing arts. But half an hour away is Millburn’s Paper Mill Playhouse, a celebrated regional theater that “basically adopted my high school,” Williams says.
“I did their summer programs and I was, like, OK — I want to do this for the rest of my life!”
Alison Dooley, Rahway High School’s musical theater and dance teacher, says she saw Williams’ promise early.
“She did eight musicals here, starting in her freshman year, when she played Rosalia in ‘West Side Story,’ ” Dooley tells The Post. “Shanice was 14 and very mature even then . . .”
Snacking on french fries between rehearsals, Williams says this isn’t her first “Wiz”: She performed in her junior high’s production of the musical, too.
“I was too scared to audition for Dorothy,” she says. Instead she played Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North — “I liked that song, ‘Sweet Thing.’ ” But her grandmother was disappointed that she didn’t aim higher.
“She wanted me to try for Dorothy,” says Williams, an only child who grew up singing in her church choir and doing Janet Jackson imitations in her living room. “She taught me, ‘Never be shy. If someone asks you to perform, do it!’ ”
Fresh from her first year at AMDA, the performing arts school in Los Angeles, Williams decided to go for it. After an audition and two months of callbacks, she was told the role of Dorothy was hers.
“It wouldn’t process in my head, for some reason,” she says, staring at her Converse sneakers. “I had some Chipotle after that and then just wanted to go to sleep and wake up so I knew I wasn’t dreaming!”
Rehearsals started Oct. 5 and haven’t stopped since. “We’re just running [the show] over and over again,” she says. “We know all the lines. But there’s a lot of stuff we have to make 1,000 times better.”
Luckily, she has people like her co-star Grier to keep her going.
“He’s the funniest person I ever met in my life,” she declares. “I’m gonna have abs at the end of this, just from laughing.”
“I feel like I’m their little sister,” she adds of her cast mates. “And they treat me like that. Sometimes, it’s a little too much — ‘Guys, I’m 19 years old!’ ”
And then there’s Toto. Two Totos, actually — Scooter and his understudy, Ralphie, both terriers rescued from the pound. Williams, who has four dogs of her own, is learning the tricks of the trade: “After I sing ‘Home,’ I click my heels, [hide a treat] and call Toto, who runs to me. They work for treats!”
But what works for her, as she prepares to sing — and act and dance — before a worldwide audience? She puts down the fries and catches her breath.
“I really believe in prayer,” she says. “If I’m giving it 100 percent, I don’t have anything to worry about!”
Photographer: Rene Cervantes; Stylist: Stacey Jones/Bernstein & Andriulli; Market Editor: Johannah Masters; Hair: T. Cooper using Aveda; Makeup: Oslyn Holder for Basic White Shirt, LTD; Location: The Out Hotel.
Blue sparkle dress: Mac Duggal dress, $549 at Lord & Taylor, 424 Fifth Ave. Earrings, $168, and bracelet, $158 both at robertachiarella.com. Betsey Johnson heels, $109 at lulus.com.
Red dress: Halston Heritage dress, $75 at renttherunway.com. 18-karat white gold earrings, $3,250 at melissakayejewelry.com. Necklace, $208, and bracelet, $228, and both at robertachiarella.com. Badgley Mischka sandals, $225 at shoes.com.
Teal dress: Halston Heritage dress, $475 at Lord & Taylor. Bracelet, similar style by Alexis Bittar, $195 at saksfifthavenue.com. Earrings, $49 at rosenasammi.com.