#1
Posted: 6/17/09 at 11:31pm
In my opinion, those who are saying this production is bland are being far too nice. It's a complete and utter mess. Structurally, THE WIZ has always been problematic, particularly in its amateurish and pedestrian book and the current production running at City Center's Mainstage does the material no favors. The word I kept thinking of during the show was "messy." It just all feels and, more importantly, looks messy.
Thomas Kail's direction is all over the place; there are brief moments of inventiveness but these are fleeting and should be cherished. The majority of his work here is really complicated-looking, and not in a good way. This could also be due to Andy Blankenbuehler's choreography which I found to be completely underwhelming and second-rate at best compared to his past works. The direction and choreography are both messy and involve lots of movement which just causes a major headache; you don't know where to look.
The orchestra sounds fantastic but I had problems with the sound; for 80% of the first act, I could barely hear the singers above the orchestra. Either they need to turn the mics on the cast members up or tell the orchestra to tone it down; I think it's the former of the two.
This cast really is beyond bland. I do give Ashanti major props for having the guts to take on live theater and I respect her for doing a limited engagement like THE WIZ instead of jumping into an open-ended run of a Broadway show and maybe not being able to cut it doing 8 shows a week for God knows how long. But she needs a lot of work; she actually got laughs on a line that wasn't funny, it was just funny because she delivered it so poorly. Her acting is a huge problem and her voice sounds fine enough but put her singing "Home" up against LaChanze's "Believe in Yourself" and there's no comparison.
LaChanze was even a letdown to me though. Sure, vocally, she's arguably never sounded better but her acting was really nothing special. Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, and Christian Dante White are absolutely lackluster. Tichina Arnold and Dawnn Lewis are hamming it up like nobody's business and they actually both were deliciously campy (Arnold got a semi-standing ovation after "No Bad News" though, which I thought was way over-the-top. She's good but not worthy of a mid-show standing O.) Orlando Jones is awful in every way. My biggest complaint with the entire cast except for LaChanze was their DICTION. I could barely understand what any of them were singing. As Stephen Sondheim once said to Patti LuPone, "sing the WORDS."
The design elements add to the messiness of the show and don't really add much. The only time the show really didn't lay there like a lump was "Brand New Day" which was really fantastic. But I had to ask myself (as I did with "Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat" in the recently shuttered GUYS & DOLLS revival) "is this number 'fantastic' because it's really fantastic or is it 'fantastic' because everything up 'til now has kinda sucked?" I still don't have a definite answer.
I paid $17 for my ticket and quite honestly would like my $17 back. This is the first show I'm seeing, on or off Broadway for the new season and it's not off to the best of starts for me. Don't bother with this production. Next year can City Center's Summer Stars finally make my plea come true and do HELLO, DOLLY! with Bernadette Peters? Please? I need something to get the bad taste out of my mouth from THE WIZ.
Oh, and for the record, a standing ovation the second the lights came up...did I miss something?
* and 1/2 out of ****
Thomas Kail's direction is all over the place; there are brief moments of inventiveness but these are fleeting and should be cherished. The majority of his work here is really complicated-looking, and not in a good way. This could also be due to Andy Blankenbuehler's choreography which I found to be completely underwhelming and second-rate at best compared to his past works. The direction and choreography are both messy and involve lots of movement which just causes a major headache; you don't know where to look.
The orchestra sounds fantastic but I had problems with the sound; for 80% of the first act, I could barely hear the singers above the orchestra. Either they need to turn the mics on the cast members up or tell the orchestra to tone it down; I think it's the former of the two.
This cast really is beyond bland. I do give Ashanti major props for having the guts to take on live theater and I respect her for doing a limited engagement like THE WIZ instead of jumping into an open-ended run of a Broadway show and maybe not being able to cut it doing 8 shows a week for God knows how long. But she needs a lot of work; she actually got laughs on a line that wasn't funny, it was just funny because she delivered it so poorly. Her acting is a huge problem and her voice sounds fine enough but put her singing "Home" up against LaChanze's "Believe in Yourself" and there's no comparison.
LaChanze was even a letdown to me though. Sure, vocally, she's arguably never sounded better but her acting was really nothing special. Joshua Henry, James Monroe Iglehart, and Christian Dante White are absolutely lackluster. Tichina Arnold and Dawnn Lewis are hamming it up like nobody's business and they actually both were deliciously campy (Arnold got a semi-standing ovation after "No Bad News" though, which I thought was way over-the-top. She's good but not worthy of a mid-show standing O.) Orlando Jones is awful in every way. My biggest complaint with the entire cast except for LaChanze was their DICTION. I could barely understand what any of them were singing. As Stephen Sondheim once said to Patti LuPone, "sing the WORDS."
The design elements add to the messiness of the show and don't really add much. The only time the show really didn't lay there like a lump was "Brand New Day" which was really fantastic. But I had to ask myself (as I did with "Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat" in the recently shuttered GUYS & DOLLS revival) "is this number 'fantastic' because it's really fantastic or is it 'fantastic' because everything up 'til now has kinda sucked?" I still don't have a definite answer.
I paid $17 for my ticket and quite honestly would like my $17 back. This is the first show I'm seeing, on or off Broadway for the new season and it's not off to the best of starts for me. Don't bother with this production. Next year can City Center's Summer Stars finally make my plea come true and do HELLO, DOLLY! with Bernadette Peters? Please? I need something to get the bad taste out of my mouth from THE WIZ.
Oh, and for the record, a standing ovation the second the lights came up...did I miss something?
* and 1/2 out of ****
Updated On: 6/18/09 at 11:31 PM
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