La Jolla THE WIZ - official reviews

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:16pm

http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/9223

THEATREMANIA:

Rob Stevens writes, "What we have here is a mess of a show trying to pass as a hopped-up rock concert."

____________________________________

It's been over 30 years since a hip Dorothy first landed in an all-black Oz in the musical The Wiz. Now, director Des McAnuff and his team at the La Jolla Playhouse have re-imagined the Tony Award-winning show for the new millennium with a multi-cultural cast and other modern updates. For example, Aunt Em's farmhouse here comes with a satellite TV dish, the Tinman is comprised mostly of junked computer parts, and the Lion is a bag person. But amidst all these new trappings, The Wiz has lost its heart, soul, and magic.
Willliam F. Brown has updated his award-winning book for the musical with lots of current street lingo and jokes about emergency rooms and ADD. The show is as high-tech and dazzling as can be, thanks to Robert Brill's scenic and environmental design, Paul Tazewell's colorful but often odd costumes, Howell Binkley's blinding lighting, and Peter Fitzgerald's souped-up sound. But, in this case, less would have been much more. The show is so over-produced that the human element gets lost in the razzle-dazzle. (On Wednesday night, the cast had to begin the performance again after the tech crew solved the annoying problem of "white noise" at the top of the show. Later, the need for a computer reboot of a keyboard before the start of the second act contributed to a 35-minute intermission.)

Charlie Smalls' award-winning score -- even with new musical direction, vocal arrangements, and incidental music by Ron Melrose -- is the show's saving grace. Here, the soft-rock melodies sometimes roll over into hip-hop, but the score still snaps, crackles and pops. The cast is in great voice, from the charming Nikki M. James as Dorothy right on down to the lowliest Winkie. James really delivers throughout the show, and her singing of the finale, "Home," deservedly brings down the house. Valarie Pettiford's Glinda is a vision of a Follies Bergere showgirl, and she makes "If You Believe" into a true power ballad. Heather Lee milks all the comedy from her brief role of Addaperle, the inept witch with ADD. On the male side of the equation, Tituss Burgess is a crowd pleaser as the cowardly, sissified Lion, and he and James have the right chemistry to sell "Be a Lion." David Alan Grier's Wiz is better in his quieter moments than his louder ones, while Rashad Naylor's Scarecrow and Michael Benjamin Washington's Tinman don't make much of an impression.


Add some Cirque du Soleil-like aerialists, a break-dancing, roller-skating Toto (Albert Blaise Cattafi), and an over-amplified Evillene (E. Faye Butler) who wears out her welcome long before her first real scene. What we have here is a mess of a show trying to pass as a hopped-up rock concert. This Dorothy would have been better off getting into that storm cellar with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry rather than venturing into McAnuff's strange new world.


Updated On: 10/12/06 at 12:16 PM

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:25pm

eeks that does not sound good. from the picture i have seen though it looks so good.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:34pm

Well, my thoughts looking at the pictures kind of echo this review: it looks all metalic and steel.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:42pm

"But amidst all these new trappings, The Wiz has lost its heart, soul, and magic."


Just as I suspected... unfortunately.

Someday, I hope those of you who didn't get a chance to see the original production will have an opportunity to do so. Maybe not a full "Xerox" of the original show, but a FAITHFUL updating of Holder's original concept.

Updated On: 10/12/06 at 12:42 PM

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:44pm

And this simply proves my point that I felt a long time ago when I read about the "re-imagining" of The Wiz:

If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:44pm

The original was wonderful!

[Josephine2]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:49pm

I know that we may not need another Oz-ian story on Broadway right now, but I was (still am) rooting for this production. I guess I'll just have to wait and see...

Based on the review and photos, it does seem like more creative energy was placed in outwardly trying to make this story pertinent to today/this century (ie gadgetry, lingo, etc.), rather than focusing on how the story itself can translate. I guess the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) might work well in this case. I hope that they can pare down the production and re-connect to the essence of the story. As I said above, I'd really like to see this show have some life to it and do well.

I hope my ramblings make sense!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:55pm

What was the original concept?

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 12:56pm

They should just set it in 1975 and do a restaging of it.

And I think they should put the Wiz in an ascot. Because A Chorus Line has just brought AscotBack.

BOBBY
I'm bringing AscotBack.
Them other actors don't know how to act.


Updated On: 10/12/06 at 12:56 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:05pm

A little bit of a problem is that - as much as I do have an affinity for it - THE WIZ isn't a "great" show. The original production didn't get great reviews, and its multiple Tony wins were something of a default because it was such a weak season on Broadway that year.

The thing that everybody loved about the original was the staging. THE WIZ is one of the few shows I would actually prefer to see a re-creation of than a complete rethinking - at least along the sterile rethinking Des seems to have done.
Updated On: 10/12/06 at 01:05 PM

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:08pm

Des ruined a show with his staging? Imagine that.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:10pm

I'm glad Des took a chance though. Whether it worked or not is a matter of opinion, but I'm sort of glad he didnt' just restage it. I think that's what a revival should be. It gives the actors a chance to create something new and the designers as well.

[lite2shine]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:15pm

I saw it during the preview three seats next to Des. My impression was "Visually stunning, emotionally empty." I didn't think the book or score was that great, and they tried too hard to update the book.

As I wrote in another thread, they put up some seats on the stage, and from what I heard is that Des wanted the audience to be involved with the show (thus the Yellow Brick Road was set up like Starlight Express lane in the audience seats too). Well the direction was not at all to include the audience. No interaction between the cast and the audience, so the audience just sit there and watch. I thought there is no need to put the seats on the stage and limit the acting area.

As the Theatremania reviewer said, the evil Witch joke gets tired soon and it was so annoying and I couldn't hear what she was saying as she was yelling all the time.

I really appreciate La Jolla Playhouse trying to produce unique and original shows, for a regional theatre level, it's just great. But as for a BW show level, it will get creamed if they try to take it to BW.

Updated On: 10/12/06 at 01:15 PM

[erikaamato]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 1:25pm

Def??? Who the heck is "Def?" I assume you mean Des. As in Des McAnuff. Oy.

[lite2shine]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:01pm

Of course, I knew it! Geez, my fingers!

[marcmcmartin]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:11pm

These kind of threads are so disheartening!! THEATERMANIA holds about as much weight as an starving flea!!!!!!
This is only one review, and reviews are just that. What is actually more important is the audience word of mouth and if it resonates. How many current shows on Broadway are spectacles lacking in heart? Many. I can assure you that when Wicked is revived 30 years from now, people will be calling it a "heartless spectacle". Which, frankly, it pretty much is now.
Remember, that when the Wiz was first done in the 70's it was contemporary. I see no harm in trying to "update" a piece. Do we really want to see a Tinman made out of tomato sauce cans for the 30th time? How precious would that be?
Jersey Boys did not get stellar regional reviews, and was pretty much rocketed to transfer by audience response and ticket sales. So let's see. Also, how in the hell can anybody judge a show from photos?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:14pm

JERSEY BOYS' out of town reviews were a hell of a lot stronger than that.

[lite2shine]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:57pm

>JERSEY BOYS' out of town reviews were a hell of a lot stronger than that.

Yes, it extended at least three times or more. It broke the house record (La Jolla's). I doubt The Wiz will see the same success locally.

And I did see the show marcmcmartin, and posted my impression.

[LI Larry]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 4:42pm

OY!!!

I have tickets for Nov. 4. And I'm flying from NYC to see it. It's a comedy of errors. First I went because I wanted to see Wayne Brady in it. Then the day after I book the trip and buy the tickets, a friend who is in the ensemble emailed to tell me Wayne withdrew (this was before the official announcement.) So if I cancel the flight I lose half my money, not to mention the cost of the tickets. So I decide to go anyway, meeting a friend who lives in Vegas. For him it's a $50 flight. Then he has a recurrance of cancer and can't go. He's in Florida. So I decide to go anyway and be a good son and take mom. Now the reviews are horrible and those photos did not impress me at all. I'm thinking of just cutting my losses and just forgetting the whole thing.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 5:17pm

LI Larry, if the negativity about this show is somewhat consistent, I would go ahead and bag the trip. If you go all the way out there, and spend more money in the process, and don't end up liking the show, you'll be thinking about the time and money wasted on the trip.

[Thespinoy]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:20pm

A love letter from Variety:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931842?categoryid=1265&cs=1

By Robert Verini

To call the La Jolla Playhouse production of "The Wiz" a mere revival is to understate the accomplishment of helmer Des McAnuff and his production team. They have rethought, rescaled and reshaped an uneven musical play of historical importance but modest virtues into a joyful, stunningly entertaining circus of spectacle, soul and heart. Despite a few easily fixed opening-night tech glitches, and some less-easy-to-fix weaknesses built into the 1975 original, "The Wiz" will thrill Southern California audiences for the next month -- and don't be surprised to see it ease on down the interstate to a hearty Gotham welcome sometime soon.
The physical wizardry of this "Wiz" comes as no surprise given McAnuff's past mastery at marshalling state-of-the-art technology in the service of an emotional story. (Show makes his earlier techstravaganza, "The Who's 'Tommy,' " look like "The Gin Game.") All of L. Frank Baum's creatures, from witches and Winkies to Munchkins and Kalidas, are sent careening across, around, above and below Robert Brill's exciting full-theater environment, which sends a runway between rows 7 and 8 and places spectators onstage, pulling aud firmly into the action and making it clear we're not in Kansas anymore.

Paul Tazewell's costumes are witty and stylish, and Howell Binkley's rock-concert lighting and special effects are complemented by Michael Clark's evocative projections. And whenever choreographer Sergio Trujillo seems to have reached the limit of variations on hip-hop or breakdance style, he comes up with yet another, culminating in the showstopping "Everybody Rejoice."

But it's the underlying conceptual thinking that serves to make this production so powerful.

Thirty years ago, it was significant that an all-African-American company would be assembled to translate Baum's classic fantasy into the urban black vernacular. Tony-winning tuner brought out themes of self-reliance and believing in oneself that reflected the general assertion of racial identity at that time. Even then, however, the jokes in William F. Brown's libretto were musty and Charlie Smalls' songs left little impression. After a ploddingly literal 1978 movie version flopped, show seemed quaint and dated, and one understood why no major professional company was moved to revisit it.

However, over the same 30 years, pop culture has become a true melting pot: Hip-hop, salsa and techno are no longer "theirs," but part of everyone's beat. And the need to face an uncertain future fearlessly is shared by all. "The Wiz" remains a collage of contemporary slang and imagery, but La Jolla's is a multicultural collage in which Baum's themes speak to the broadest possible audience. Unquestionably, the humor and the heartbeat of the piece remain African-American at their source, but the overall effect is pluralistic and inclusive. In the truest and most positive sense of the phrase, McAnuff's show is color-blind.

Every alteration from the 1975 original, inspired by the central multicultural concept, is salutary. Brown's almost wholly rewritten script is tart and funny at last. Smalls' score -- supervised by musical director Ron Melrose and original orchestrator Harold Wheeler -- sounds fresh and contemporary, with the "Stomp"-like arrangement of "Slide Some Oil to Me," performed by Michael Benjamin Washington's hilarious Tinman, a special highlight. His original first-act closer "What Would I Do?," a puzzling solo that made one wonder why no one else got a song, now takes in the Lion, Scarecrow and Dorothy to become a gorgeous R&B ballad beseeching the Wiz's aid.

Any "Wizard of Oz" stands or falls on its Dorothy, and this production has both a Dorothy and a Toto for the ages. With the voice of an angel and strong acting chops, Nikki M. James is no weepy Nellie, but a confident young lady with good sense. (The satellite dish atop her farmhouse tells us she doesn't have to dream of what's over the rainbow: she's seen it on CNN.)

As for Toto, in a brilliant stroke, arrival in Oz turns the pup into a two-legged street dancer (Albert Blaise Cattafi). He gets no words, and needs none. In this amazing, enthralling performance, his panting and playful leaping embody the self-reliance, courage, and loyalty for which the main characters are all searching.

The witches of "The Wiz" go the MGM version one better. With scatterbrained Addaperle (the amusing Heather Lee), Good Witch of the North, assigned to suggest a trip to the Emerald City, sister Glinda's appearance is held back, as in Baum, to make her the deus ex machina for Dorothy's ultimate return. But Valarie Pettiford, doubling as Aunt Em, is worth the wait as she delivers a smashing pop-diva rendition of "If You Believe."

Poured into a yellow jumpsuit with devil's wings, E. Faye Butler's Evillene boasts the stature of Wanda Sykes and the voice of Moms Mabley. A credible threat to our heroes, Butler may rival and even eclipse the witchery of the sainted Margaret Hamilton once she corrects some inaudibility of lyrics and dialogue.

Most conspicuous symbol of inclusiveness, and most daring conceptual choice, is the Cowardly Lion, whose flouncing gives new meaning to "friend of Dorothy." The movie's Bert Lahr was fey, but Tituss Burgess takes the character toward Angel in "Rent." Still, there is no condescension or foolishness in this turn. When he and Dorothy team on "Be a Lion," climbing the catwalks and gaining courage with each step, it becomes an anthem to human dignity on the order of "I Am What I Am."

Curiously, two strong characters in the 1939 film have the least impact here. The Scarecrow (likable Rashad Naylor) fades into the background once he's introduced in his triumphant "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday."

The Wiz himself is more problematic. He first appears not as an enormous disembodied head but as a fairly ordinary fellow who, despite vocal amplification and an imperious air, fails to justify his billing as "Oz, the Great and Terrible," especially as played by the gentle David Alan Grier. It's hard to believe in his iron-fisted command of Emerald City, or the threats that send our heroes off to kill the Witch.

Worse yet, seeing him in human form in the first act diminishes the power of the reveal in the second. Since we've already seen the Wiz for what he is, we don't feel the four friends' crushing realization that they have fallen victim to a humbug. For the only time in this production, one needs to reflect on the MGM movie to tap into the emotionality of a key scene.

"Oz" devotees will appreciate McAnuff's conclusive answer to the most vexing perennial question: Why is Dorothy so insistent on leaving Oz and going back to Kansas? For all its visual and aural delights, McAnuff's Oz is an ominous and unwelcoming place, not unlike the outside world it's meant to reflect. By contrast, Aunt Em's warmth in her opening duet, "The Feeling We Once Had," establishes a bond of love with her niece that resonates throughout the action.

In final tableau, there's nothing much left of the Gale farm. (The house was lost in the tornado, remember?) Dorothy and Toto join her aunt at the water pump, and Uncle Henry (Orville Mendoza) wanders in to envelop them all in a massive embrace as the music swells. Perhaps for the first time ever in "Wizard of Oz" history, we're truly persuaded that there's no place like home.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 6:23pm

"Perhaps for the first time ever in "Wizard of Oz" history, we're truly persuaded that there's no place like home."

Okay thats a little much. I mean did he see the MGM movie?

[marcmcmartin]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 7:04pm

Hey
Not that the Variety review means anything either, but it is the complete anithesis of the Theatremania one, and holds far more "weight". A transfer will be dependant, on emotional/financial response from the audience.
And I love how cynical people on here cling for dear life to negative reviews to support their opinions/bias, and then discredit the postive ones. How about ignoring reviews all together?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 7:10pm

I think the show is pretty set to come in to New York. The reviews in La Jolla, however, may give us some idea of what kind of fate the show may have on Broadway.

I don't really think it will be a huge hit in New York for all kinds of reasons, the reviews not even being the main factor.

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 7:32pm

I still yet to read about a musical that was revived, revised, revisited, and reimagined that has become a box office success.
Add to the factor of having theater purists and critics that don't support changes or post negative reviews that dissuade people from seeing reimagined plays. I haven't seen this new Wiz so, I will give it a chance. I gave Flower Drum Song a chance and I personally enjoyed it. It was a box office hit in Los Angeles but not on Broadway.