THE WIZ First Preview Thoughts — Page 2

I'll be there on Wednesday afternoon! A bunch of my friends and I are going simply because of the insanely cheap tickets.

I'll be at Wednesday's matinee as well! I think I got second or third row orch with P2P which is nice since I'm usually up in the third tier.

Nigel was great --- he ran really fast -- wagged his tail and sat still while he was on Ashanti's lap!! Too bad they cut his big monologue in act II ; )

> I think Toto should've been played by a Westie.

Helllooooo... that's breed casting ! At least they didn't cast some Uncle Tom pit bull, right? I'm just sorry to hear they cut his Act II monologue. I suppose they just threw a bucket of water on the witch when we ALL know how she really died. Toto lifts his leg and saves the day!

Has anyone tried stagedooring this yet?

Saw the show on Mon 16th and would have to say I agree with most of what has been said already, both pros and cons.

The Gallery and Mezz was only half full, granted it was monday night and pre-opening.

LaChanze (Glinda), Inglehart (Lion), and Tichina Arnold (Evilene) stole the show with performances miles above the rest. Joshua Henry's Tinman was meh, and Christian White's Scarecrow was well sung but poorly timed as far as acting, and Dawnn Lewis was sufficiently sassy as Addaperle.

Ashanti was impeccable vocally and enjoyable overall, but far short of the charisma, charm, and power turned out by LaChanze, Inglehart, and Arnold.

A good bit of the dialogue was rushed and poorly timed (not just by White), but with luck that will improve by Opening night and beyond.

A few of the dance numbers were outstanding, apart from the extraneous and uninspiring tap bits, and I found the Tornado cleverly executed and thoroughly entertaining.

Personally I thought the staging and effects were well done overall apart from one thing I can't believe hasn't been mentioned yet...

The bucket of water for the witch.

What on EARTH were they thinking with that???

A single small scarf, pulled from the bucket by a dancer out of the wings and tossed on Evilene?

Really???

Considering the production was very professional overall I couldn't believe that one of the most dramatic moments of the play was staged like a high school workshop. Even a simple bucket of confetti, glitter or streamers would have been a stronger visual effect... especially when Ashanti was directed to play it in exaggerated slow motion. That one choice was just embarrassingly bad in my opinion.

As for everyone hating Orlando Jones... "So You Wanted to See The Wizard" truly was horrid, but after all the bad comments, I was pleasantly surprised by his remaining numbers.

His acting wasn't stellar, but it was stronger than most of the others on stage, and once he was singing in a higher and more comfortable range he did quite well. He simply could not handle the deep register of his first song and I honestly can't believe that they didn't just move it up an octave. With that one adjustment I think there wouldn't have been much negative said about him, and his later Evangelical Revival Tent singling schtick was actually very strong imo.

Meanwhile, "Brand New Day" was absolutely FANTASTIC. As in, hair standing up on the back of your neck superb. I'm only familiar with the original movie soundtrack of The Wiz, but this show's rendition was done with a full on Gospel flair that blows away the original dated disco arrangement. It was so good that I honestly wish they had extended it as they had in the movie soundtrack where it was the longest number by far.

All in all, despite it's occasional uneven moments, I can quite comfortably recommend it without reservation, especially for the ridiculously cheap $15-$21 seats on offer. Brand New Day + LaChanze are easily worth twice that price and I'll probably put my own money where my mouth is and see it again in the final 5 shows to see how the production has developed and how Orlando's replacement is.

Call me crazy, but I think this is Andy Blankenbuehler's best work. I also really enjoyed all of the costumes.

I saw it today. I paid $15. I wouldn't want to pay more than $30.

I thought it was pretty bland. Sure certain members of the cast were great but I just wasn't THAT impressed. I thought Ashanti was MUCH better than I expected but she did only have one face and one stance the ENTIRE show. Good thing she can sing.

One additional jeer that I cannot believe I forgot in my review earlier in the thread...

There was one HORRIBLE bit where Dorothy, Tinman, Lion, and Scarecrow are ambushed by... I don't know what. Shambling shaggy creatures out of some HP Lovecraft story?

It's been 20 years since I saw the movie, but I'm guessing this is the scene that was staged in the subway where they were attacked by pillars and garbage cans if I recall, which in turn, I am assuming is based on the "Attacked by Trees" part of the original Baum story.

All I know is that neither my wife or I could make ANY sense of what took place. Only from the dialog after the "attack" was it clear that the Lion had been cowardly and that Scarecrow and Tinman had "saved" them.

Unfortunately the danced piece was so chaotic that we never "got" any of that. The only thing that was clear was that some kind of attack happened, and then ended seemingly just as mysteriously as it had begun.

In talking about this scene in particular after the show, neither of us could recall one single experience ever in theater before that left us as (unintentionally) baffled.

Would love to hear what others thought of this part of the show. If it weren't for the fact that my wife was equally confused (though it bothered her less) I would have guessed it was only me missing something.

Thankfully it was a very short and minor scene, and I still stand by my earlier assessment that it is worth seeing at a discounted price... "Brand New Day" alone was worth the $15 we paid.

@ NuMystic:

That scene with the creatures is called "Kalidah Battle." It's taken directly from Baum's book. In the story, the Kalidahs were beasts that were half-tiger and half-bear. They were also in the original 1975 Broadway production. The '78 film dropped it in favor of the subway scene, which was adapted from Baum's attack sequence of the Fighting Trees.

I was at the show on Wednesday afternoon and although I definitely enjoyed it, I would advise everyone to take advantage of the amazing discounts being offered.

I think the overall design (costumes, lighting, sets, choreography) was quite strong, and I'd say Christian White, Joshua Henry, and James Monroe Iglehart were the standouts in the cast as the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion. [James Monroe Iglehart especially] I'd also add LaChanze in there, even though she's only in the show for a hot minute.

like everyone else has said, Ashanti was vocally quite good, but her acting wasn't...really very strong. she wasn't bad by any stretch, but I can definitely imagine the difference a stronger Dorothy would make.

I love Encores shows because it's one of the ways I get to learn about new scores. I was only very very vaguely familiar with the score to The Wiz, but it sounded great yesterday. Not the most memorable score (aside from "Ease on Down the Road" and maybe one or two others), but I found it quite enjoyable.

anyway, it's not the best show I've seen Encores do, but I would definitely recommend it. I'm also curious to read the reviews, to see what people ~in the know~ thought.

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