All this talk about being "true to the original" is really leaving off one important word, and that's "intent." When you adapt material, there are alterations, embellishments, refinements, and edits. But I don't mind that, and I understand that's part of a creative process. But what I want and hope for is that they are being "true to the original INTENT" of the material. If they are, I am often (more often than not) fine with the changes made.
I love the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and the MGM adaptation "The Wizard of Oz" even with the changes made, because it is true to the original intent of the material. The adaptation captures the essence, the tone, the point, etc., as well as the basic story, even when that story differs on occasion from the source.
If you had to summarize "The Wiz" in a very brief sentence, you would say, "It's an all-black adaptation of The Wizard of Oz." That boils it down to the bare basic premise.
But does that premise mean "we cast black people" and then do a sanitized, generic creative interpretation of Oz? Where does the African-American perspective on the material begin and end? At the racial casting? We're talking about a cultural experience and not just a skin color.
What this production seems to be lacking from everything I have seen and heard so far is any African-American perspective on the material. They needed a Geoffrey Holder to focus it. It doesn't have to be HIS interpretation from 1975, but it shouldn't step out of the intent of an "African-American," aka "all black," version of The Wizard of Oz.
And I'm not saying that the creative team has to be "all black" behind the scenes. They just have to understand and honor the intent of the material and embrace the artistic culture and perspective of what "all black" means. It doesn't mean "The Muppet's Wizard of Oz" or making a one-size-fits-all TV special so little Jimmy in Texas can tune in and not feel like he's stepped into a strange land.
Wait, that's exactly what happens in the story. A little Midwestern kid is exposed to a new world with a vastly different culture than the one she has known.
I was a 14-year-old white boy from Kansas when I saw the original national tour of "The Wiz" in Kansas City. I went back to see it a second time. I thought it was breath-takingly imaginative, inspiring, soulful, strange, wonderful, exciting, funny, and it oozed creativity from every aspect of the production. I still can't get over the genius of having the Yellow Brick Road played by four 6-foot-five-inch dancers with yellow afros that shook golden glitter from their hair when they danced in their yellow-brick tuxedos.
There is nothing remotely approaching that level of genius here, and from everything I see, they have lost the original intent of the production. So in that regard, it's not "true to the original."
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Updated On: 11/16/15 at 07:29 AM
