Review: THE WIZ at ASU Gammage

In this review by BroadwayWorld Guest Contributor, David Appleford, the pre-Broadway tour of THE WIZ gets gets high marks as a source of “theatrical joy.” The production runs through January 7th at ASU Gammage in Tempe, AZ.

After a disastrous dress rehearsal, when the musical comedy THE WIZ first opened in Baltimore in 1974, producer Ken Harper was advised by the production’s general manager to “...close the show right now!” Harper is on record as seriously considering it. But, after a tense pause, he decided to keep things going. After all, the concept of an all-black musical with contemporary urban humor based on The Wizard of Oz was his idea in the first place. The show eventually moved to Broadway where it ran with great success from ‘75 to ‘79, having won numerous theatrical awards, including seven Tonys, one for Best Musical.  Plus, it helped elevate the pop singing career of Stephanie Mills, the original Dorothy.

This week at ASU Gammage in Tempe, running until January 7, is the revamped and newly adapted production of THE WIZ, clearly aimed at audiences with present-day tastes and low attention spans.  It's now in the middle of its North American tour before an expected Broadway engagement currently set for April. And for those who have fond memories of that original seventies production, take note: a lot has changed.

Taking its cue from the 1939 MGM musical, the show's scenic design by Hannah Beachler begins with an almost colorless/sepia-toned appearance as Dorothy (Nichelle Lewis, who engages thoroughly throughout) laments about her life and home while living on a ramshackle family farm in rural Kansas with her Aunt Em (Melody A. Betts, who doubles as the Wicked Witch of the West). Faithful to the story as we've known it, a tornado hits, grabs the young girl, and whisks her and the farmhouse through time and space until she eventually lands in the world of the Wiz, accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East in the process.  And this is where everything you thought you knew about the musical changes.

Though the show’s original book was written by William F. Brown, this new production has additional material credited to comic talent Amber Ruffin, best known for her work as writer and performer with TV’s Seth Meyers, and she’s pumped the dialog up considerably. Present-day references unknown in the seventies are littered throughout, including a whole new explanation from Tinman (Phillip Johnson Richardson) as to how he turned from a human into a man of tin. Instead of Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, putting a curse on the woodsman's axe, causing him to accidentally cut his limbs off while trying to work, here he's cursed into a life of tin and rust as revenge after humiliating the witch by beating her in a nearby karaoke contest.

Once Dorothy finishes staggering breathless from the tornado ride, she finds herself in a new setting that bursts into a world of eye-popping color within seconds, a result of Ryan J. O'Gara's lighting design supported by a strikingly huge, back-screen projection with AI-generated designs by Daniel Brodie. The large-screen computer imagery throughout is genuinely astonishing.

Plus, this non-stop colorful feast for the eyes is complimented further by Sharen Davis’s costumes.  Though we would previously remember the townsfolk as the little people of Munchkin Land, the name is here no longer mentioned. Instead, the regular-sized ensemble greeting Dorothy is now simply listed as Townspeople, and when Dorothy arrives, these townspeople are ready to party. It’s as if the young girl had landed in the middle of a joyous, psychedelic Mardi Gras already in progress, and she’s the guest of honor.

From here, everything is turned up to eleven. The arrangements and the vocal delivery of most of the original score are powerhouse versions of what you might have remembered, while JaQuel Knight’s exhaustive, athletic choreography makes practically every previous production of THE WIZ look pedestrian by comparison, particularly during both the early tornado sequence and later during the production’s show-stopper Everybody Rejoice, more popularly known as Brand New Day.

As directed by Schele Williams, this is an adrenaline-fueled, high-energy version of THE WIZ that refuses to quit. Everything, both visually and orally, is loud. Occasionally, the acoustics in the theatre worked against the production, often making it difficult to hear what was being said or sung. But with exaggerated body movements, over-the-top facial expressions, and dialog delivered in big, brassy, broad strokes, audiences are practically prompted when to laugh, whether they correctly heard the line or not.

But the real strength of the show comes not with the color, the effects, nor the continuing spectacle; it's during the final moments when Dorothy after all of her adventures with Tinman, Scarecrow (Avery Wilson), and Lion (Kyle Ramar Freeman) are done, she learns what she needs to do to return home to Kansas and to Aunt Em (no Toto this time around). With the back screen projection dimmed, the lighting reduced, and all the color drained from the set, Dorothy takes center stage under a spotlight, faces the audience, and simply sings. With an energy and an emotional strength that made Home an R&B number one for Stephanie Mills, newcomer Nichelle Lewis grabs the song with both hands, clutching it with the same strength and power of the tornado that began the show, and makes it her own, bringing the house down at the song’s conclusion in the process.

In ‘76, after seeing the original production on Broadway, Stephen Sondheim said that THE WIZ was his favorite current musical because it captured a real sense of joy. He added that it's the one show that makes you feel better when you come out than when you walked in. In this new production for a new century, that sense of theatrical joy is still there, and it has everything to do with Nichelle Lewis.

ASU Gammage ~ https://www.asugammage.com/ ~ 1200 S. Forest Avenue, Tempe, AZ ~ 480-965-3434

Photo credit to Jeremy Daniel ~ L to R: Kyle Ramar Freeman, Nichelle Lewis, Phillip Johnson Richardson, Avery Wilson

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