Through March 9
THE WIZ Shea’s Mainstage
By Augustine Warner
Do you recognize the name L. Frank Baum?
He’s a continuing major factor in American culture.
Think “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” or “The Wizard of Oz” or “Wicked” or “The Wiz.”
And, that’s what’s on Shea’s Mainstage, “The Wiz,” a version of Baum’s story featuring Dorothy from Kansas (Dana Cimone), the Cowardly Lion (Mykal Kilgore), the Tinman (D. Jerome), the Scarecrow (Elijah Ahmad, Lewis Eal) and The Wiz (Alan Mingo Jr.).
Toto didn’t make the cast cut.
I don’t remember the production of “The Wiz” I saw a half-century ago on Broadway, but it certainly wasn’t as high-tech as this show is, with spinning stage lighting, mammoth sound and electronic backdrops of vast projected images.
This is the theater of the future, with a prominent local director once telling me we would eventually see tap-dancing robots on stage.
Not yet, but the sets are.
Clearly, the producers invested significant amounts of cash into the costumes and the overall effects and someone chose a really good cast of singers and dancers.
The New York City talent pool remains wide and deep and that’s visible here.
The story is the standard, since everyone knows its broad story of Dorothy from Kansas being told by Aunt Em (Kyla Jade) to dream, as they wait for a gorgeously staged tornado which leaves Dorothy in Oz.
Then, we see the gradual meetings with the locals who need help, courage, a heart and a brain and are heading to the Emerald City to seek help from The Wiz in their goals.
They sing of their dreams, as the three coalesce around Dorothy on the Quest.
We aren’t on the Yellow Brick Road, although the pilgrims seek to “Ease on Down the Road.”
The second act opens with a massive music and dancing performance in Oz, a really impressive performance by the cast, “The Emerald City.”
The Wiz finally appears in person, on his magnificent throne.
He’s skeptical of the requests from the pilgrims.
As he shifts out of power, the Wicked Witch of the West, Evillene (Jade) tries to take power, “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News,” only to be defeated by water and slowly dissolve high up on the stage.
That lets the four travelers look at their situations and be satisfied.
For Dorothy, that eventually leads to Glinda the Good Witch telling her to “Believe in Yourself.”
While the show is basically the original work from William F. Brown and Charlie Small, there have been changes from Amber Ruffin and the individual number “Everybody Rejoice” from Luther Vandross, from the Pilgrims and the cast.
This is a well-done and mechanistic look at the pilgrimage to Oz.
Enjoy “The Wiz.”
© Copyright 2025 - Speakupwny.com
hosted by Online Media, Inc
Buffalo Web Design and Web Hosting
Top of Page
|
