Jeremy Daniel
Everyone young and old knows the story of The Wizard of Oz, mainly through the classic 1939 MGM musical that has been a perennial on television for decades. It’s also a good bet that most people have heard of The Wiz, which was a retelling of the story in the context of contemporary African-American culture. That musical actually began its journey in Baltimore on October 21, 1974, then eased itself on up the road to Broadway, opening on January 5, 1975, earning eight Tony Awards nominations and winning seven including Best Musical. The show has been revived once and toured two previous times (I saw the 1996 concert tour with Grace Jones as Evillene), and was turned into a big budget Hollywood musical with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson as Dorothy and Scarecrow (1978), became a live TV event on NBC (2015), and now a new tour is starting right at home in Baltimore before hitting the road and once again easing its way to Broadway in the Spring of 2024.
The story of The Wiz is unchanged — young Dorothy is swept away to the Land of Oz by a tornado, meets Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion along the way, as well as a few different witches good and bad, before finding The Wiz himself in the hopes that he will give them the things they want: a brain, a heart, courage and just to go home. The Wiz wants something in return, but can he be trusted? You probably already know the answer to that.
To say there are high expectations for this new version of The Wiz is putting it mildly but I’m confident that this team has absolutely nothing to worry about especially as they have stacked the deck with some powerhouse performers and eye-popping visuals. Technically speaking, The Wiz is a marvel, mixing physical setpieces with a huge video wall at the back of the stage that is used to augment and expand the sets on stage. The Prologue which is set at Dorothy’s Kansas home with Aunt Em (neither Uncle Henry or Toto appear in this version of the story) is quite literally in black-and-white, echoing the opening of the original movie. It’s a stunning visual, and it all changes when the tornado hits with sickly green clouds obscuring the scenery on the screen before bursting into vibrant color when Dorothy and her house end up in the Land of Oz. From that point on the stage becomes a Technicolor marvel full of vivid primary and secondary colors. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything in a pastel tone. But just how the video wall works so well with the scenery is probably the best use of that technology to date. (Frozen also successfully used a video wall but not to this extent.) Once this show gets to Broadway, this entire production team — Hannah Beachler (Scenic Design), Ryan J. O’Gara (Lighting Design), Jon Weston (Sound Design) and Daniel Brodie (Projection Design) — are rightfully due some major awards. Sharen Davis’ costumes are also beautiful and colorful (well, I will have one small critique in a moment), and the Hair and Wigs by Charles G. LaPointe, and the Makeup Design by Kirk Cambridge Del-Pesche evoke the characters without being too over-the-top literal for Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. It truly is a visual feast.
This version retains the Music and Lyrics of Charlie Smalls, including the iconic ‘Ease on Down the Road’, ‘Soon As I Get Home’ and ‘No Bad News’ — and the book by William F. Brown with some tweaks to make the show even more contemporary courtesy of Amber Ruffin. The choreography by Jaquel Knight is outstanding and award worthy, particularly in the Tornado scene (dancers perform as the tornado in a brilliant piece of modern dance), and the Act II opening number in Emerald City’s No Sleep Club where the denizens of EC are constantly requested to keep doing different styles of dance. It’s a real showstopper right as the show begins again! (And the musical arrangements for the number really had me bopping along.) Director Schele Williams obviously has a lot of love for The Wiz, and she and her team have really given us a production that honors the original but is also its own thing at the same time. Even with all of the visual pizazz, The Wiz begs for a talented cast to deliver those songs and who can stand out from the visual feast around them. That is where Williams has succeeded the most.
Right off the bat, she’s cast two well-known names as Glinda and The Wiz — Deborah Cox and Alan Mingo Jr., respectively. It’s a thrill to see Cox on stage again after The Bodyguard … even if she is in just one scene in Act I and one scene in Act II. Mingo doesn’t appear until midway through Act II but he does get to do a bit more business as The Wiz and he was a hoot! (And if Mr. Mingo is reading this, I adored you on Doom Patrol.) Mingo will end his run in January as Wayne Brady takes over for the last two stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles and then will head to Broadway with the cast. Melody Betts is another pro who may not be a household name now, but you just wait. She blows the roof off the joint as Aunt Em in the Prologue number ‘The Feeling We Once Had’, and then gets to camp it up as Evillene before blowing the roof off the joint again with her big ‘No Bad News’ number, which literally stopped the show as the audience gave her an extended round of applause. Allyson Kaye Daniel is also a riot as good witch Addeperle, ragging on the recently deceased Evermene with jokes about her current state of flatness under Dorothy’s house. All of these performers are more than terrific and they get their moments, but the show belongs to the main quartet.
Many people will remember Avery Wilson from the third season of The Voice, and he’s developed his talents on the social media app Smule while releasing his own music on Spotify. As Scarecrow, he is totally endearing as he grapples with not being able to scare the crows and not having a brain (but is actually smarter than he knows), winning everyone over with his first number ‘You Can’t Win’. Phillip Johnson Richardson is outstanding as Tin Man, wowing the audience with his B-Boy popping and locking skills in his first number ‘Slide Some Oil to Me’, and then blowing us all away in Act II with the emotional ‘What Would I Do If I Could Feel’. Kyle Ramar Freeman is hilarious as he gets to really camp it up as the Lion, bemoaning his lack of courage in the song ‘Mean Ole Lion’, and becoming the comic relief of the group. And put all three of these performers together and it’s clear the director knew exactly what she was doing when she cast them. They are a great team who meet as strangers but with a shared history of being victims of the Evermene and are a real family by the end, the heart of the story.
But if that trio are the heart of The Wiz, Dorothy is the soul and newcomer Nichelle Lewis — who will be making her Broadway debut with the show — is simply stunning. She gives us a little tease of her vocal talents in the Prologue with a bit of ‘Soon As I Get Home’ before being interrupted by Aunt Em, but then she gets to finish the song once she gets to Oz. Lewis continues to wow with her vocal prowess throughout the show, especially in ‘We Got It’, ‘Wonder, Wonder Why’ (a song that only appeared in the 1984 revival), finishing the show with ‘Home’. Lewis says her voice is a gift, and it is a gift she is sharing with anyone who sees the show. Her acting skills are also excellent, natural, confident, as if she was born to play this role. The original Broadway production of The Wiz made a star out of Stephanie Mills in the role of Dorothy, and as Lewis tours for the next few months, honing her performance, becoming more and more confident, she will own the role of Dorothy and, mark my words, will be a huge star.
Now, I said earlier I would address one quibble I have with the show, and here it is — one of my favorite songs from the show is ‘Brand New Day’ (or rather ‘Everybody Rejoice’ as it’s listed in the program). This is the scene in which the Winkies, Evillene’s worker drones, have been freed after the witch’s demise (spoiler alert!). It’s supposed to be a jubilant celebration as they get out of their factory uniforms and sing and dance about their freedom. To me, the choreography for this number was a bit … tepid. No one was really jumping for joy or doing flips or anything else. It was basically everyone crammed on stage doing synchronized choreo which only livened up a bit with the Core Four would join in. I was expecting this to be a showstopper and it wasn’t. And the costumes … color-blocked tops and bottoms in bright primary or secondary colors, some a bit ill fitting with questionable fringe on the legs of the pants. Everything else in this show is so amazing and this number deserved so much better. I hope by the time The Wiz reaches the Great White Way that the dance and costuming teams will find something more celebratory to put on the stage.
But that was the ONLY thing I can complain about because The Wiz held me rapt from beginning to end. The singing, the dancing, the performances, the music, the production design, the direction … this production is packed with star-power on and off the stage. You only have a few days to catch the show in Baltimore but if it comes to a town near you during the tour, see it. And if you can see it on Broadway where it’s sure to be even more spectacular in a single venue, ease on down that road to the box office. This is a show that is family-friendly, which we don’t get many of, good for kids from 6 to 106. I don’t know what else I can say about The Wiz except that I loved it and I think you will too, and you’ll get to see some new stars on the rise as well. Don’t miss it!
The Wiz runs about 2 hours 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission. Recommended for ages 6 and up. Children under the age of 2 will not be admitted.
The Wiz runs through September 30 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Cleveland, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and more. Visit the official website for more information.
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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