This "The Wiz," which uses the original "Wizard of Oz" novel by Frank L. Baum as its source material, is written by William F. Brown, with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls.
It is still set in the middle of Kansas where a young girl named Dorothy (Ashanti) is being raised by her Aunt Em (LaChanze) and Uncle Henry (John Eric Parker).
Suddenly, a twister appears and carries Dorothy away to the mysterious land of Oz, where she inadvertently kills The Wicked Witch of The East (one of only four witches left in Oz).
Addaperle (Dawnn Lewis), The Good Witch of the North, tells Dorothy that only The Wiz (Orlando Jones), a mysterious figure who lives in the Emerald City, has the power to return her to Kansas. So Dorothy sets off on the road to Emerald City, and on her way meets a Scarecrow (Christian Dante White) without a brain, a Tinman (Joshua Henry) without a heart, and a Lion (James Monroe Iglehart) whose roar belies the fact that he is a coward.
All join Dorothy on her journey in the hope that The Wiz will be able to help them as well. However, getting to Emerald City is only half the battle. Dorothy and her friends must also defeat The Wicked Witch of the West (Tichina Arnold) before The Wiz will agree to help them.
Overall, the show tries to put too much on stage. There's also sameness to the various tunes, and disjointedness to Thomas Kail's direction, which creates the feeling of simply going through the motions instead of making the piece really come alive.
On the plus side, the show is filled with information from the novel which didn't make it into the 1939 movie (such as the secret of Emerald City and the inclusion of all four witches), which all make a good argument for reading the original work.
The entire cast sings wonderfully, but there's little time to get to know any of them. LaChanze's scenes (both as Aunt Em and the Good Witch of the South), for example, feel more like glorified cameo appearances than a role of substance.
It doesn’t help that the entire play feels dated, with many expressions quaint and out of place. For example, Lewis is fun as Addaperle, with some wonderful costumes and accessories, but the character really feels like she belongs in a 1970s television sitcom, with some good one-liners, but little else.
Additionally, since about 95 percent of the story takes place in the fantasy world of Oz, despite a few moments and outlandish costumes (good work by costume designer Paul Tazewell), we never really feel transported there. Rather we feel we are watching a musical—not that we are in a fantastic new world.
The show also contains several ballet sequences, (used for transitional purposes) which, while good initially, soon feel repetitive.
Another problem is the casting of Ashanti. While she handles her singing chores quite nicely, she looks too old to play the teenaged Dorothy. The character is too sophisticated and street smart to be believable either as a young girl from Kansas or a stranger in a strange land when she gets to Oz.
Lewis is fun as Addaperle, with some wonderful costumes and accessories, but the character really feels like she belongs in a 1970s television sitcom, with some good one-liners, but little else.
Arnold is a hoot at the diva-like Wicked Witch of the West, effortlessly stealing moments and scenes whenever she appears.
Iglehart is excellent at the Lion, bringing that character, with all its insecurities, wonderfully to life. (His first appearance is one of the high points of the musical.)
White and Henry are okay at the Scarecrow and Tinman, while Jones is a lot of fun as The Wiz, a man who may not be what he seems, but who seems to adapt to any situation.
If there's a message to the show, it's not "there's no place like home," as much as "people believe what they want to believe" and, if the right person comes along to convince them of that fact, they can be blindly led to whatever fate the one in power has chosen—a sobering lesson for a musical fantasy, but then again, most fairy tales are actually morality plays at heart.
The scenic design by David Korins is nice, if uneven. The original Howard Wheeler orchestrations are enjoyable, and the children in the audience seemed to love the entire experience.
Also in the cast are Asmeret Ghebremichael, Angela Grovey, Levensky Smith, Adrienne Warren, Juson Williams, Raymond Lamar Bennett, Tanya Birl, Lauren Kim Jackson, Carl Lation, Jennifer Locke, Ebony Haswell, Amy McClendon, Kenna Michelle Morris, Daniel J. Watts, Kevin-Anthony, William B. Wingfield, Darlesia Cearcy, Herman Payne, Ryan H. Rankine, and Ephraim M. Sykes.
The Wiz
New York City Center
131 West 55th Street
Tickets: 212-581-1212 or www.nycitycenter.org
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Closes: July 5
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication The Stage.
