New York, NY — Memo to the staff of the Famous Footwear store in Manhattan: Please box up your available supply of magic silver and ruby slippers and ship them posthaste to the Marquis Theatre at 231 W. 46th St., where a revival of “The Wiz” just opened. Time is of the essence.
This highly anticipated revival of the pioneering 1975 musical has much to recommend — powerhouse performances, fresh and innovative choreography, an iconic score and a colorful set that could function as a primer on Black history.
To all but the most rabid theater fans, the revival might look like a success. It is splendid to look at and to listen to. Nostalgia for the original production, a cultural touchstone for a generation of Black Americans, could fuel a brisk box office. It could make stars of some of its young performers, in particular Nichelle Lewis (Dorothy) and Avery Wilson (Scarecrow). It probably will be nominated for several Tony Awards and might win a few.
But this revival lacks one essential ingredient for making the leap from good to great — a satisfying emotional journey for Dorothy.
Baltimore has always had a special connection to “The Wiz.” It’s where the musical had its world premiere in 1974, and it made a star of hometown favorite Andre De Shields, who originated the title role on Broadway.
“The Wiz” connected so powerfully with Black audiences in Charm City and nationwide because the plot appeared to represent their separate but unequal American lives.
When the 1939 movie classic was filtered through the lens of an all-Black cast and crew, it became about slavery and emancipation; Evillene, aka The Wicked Witch of the West, has enchanted a castle full of serfs to do her bidding. It was about the rising scourge of drugs; Dorothy and her friends nearly succumb to a field of poppies, the flower from which opium derives. The Wiz was the street corner hustler who flashed his gold chains, made big promises, betrayed people who trusted him, and never looked back.
More than anything else, “The Wiz” was about people who are down on their luck but who triumph against a system rigged against them from the start.
But there can be no real triumph without a formidable adversary. What the production directed by Schele Williams, with an updated script by Amber Ruffin, lacks is a palpable sense of menace.
The crows don’t attack the Scarecrow and pull out his stuffing; in this production, they tease him gently. Evillene doesn’t threaten to skin the Lion (as she did in the 1975 “Wiz”) or throw Toto into the fire (as she does in the 1978 movie.) The poppies confusingly seem to be running a spa, as though the worst danger facing the four was a bad manicure.
The Baltimore-born Melody Betts portrays Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, as more comic than threatening. Betts’ background singing in a church choir gets used to amusing effect in “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News,” giving the show-stopping second number almost the feel of a gospel revival meeting. Her voice is full of grit and shine, and her performance is vastly entertaining.
It’s just not frightening.
Betts also is cast as Aunt Em and that portrayal is very different stylistically. Instead of being over the top, it is grounded and down to earth.
The decision to cast the same actress in both roles suggests that Em and Evillene are two sides of the same maternal coin and that the difference between mother and monster lies entirely in Dorothy’s mind. That’s an insightful observation, but it’s never developed in the script.
Ruffin’s book remains gunked up with unnecessary and counter-productive background histories for Dorothy’s friends. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion were never meant to be real people. They are allegories; that’s why they have the names they do instead of “Bob,” “Bill” and “Ted.”
It’s Dorothy who needs to develop her intelligence, compassion and bravery. So what should be the emotional climax of the play, when the girl finds her way back to Kansas, falls curiously flat in this production. Dorothy hasn’t earned her trip home with the hard-won personal growth necessary for genuine transformation.
And the Wiz?
He’s portrayed on Broadway by a confident and charismatic Wayne Brady. (The Baltimore production starred Alan Mingo Jr. in the title role.) But it was difficult to appreciate Brady’s performance when the orchestra drowned out his song lyrics. Equally unforgivably, the orchestra did a similar disservice to Deborah Cox, who portrays Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.
Nonetheless, this is in many ways a tauter and more polished “Wiz” than the production that debuted in Baltimore six months ago.
When Lewis opens her mouth to sing, she becomes the Simone Biles of the theater world, effortlessly vaulting four octaves in a single breath.
She also is a naturally appealing performer, and her acting has improved since her shows in Baltimore. However, there remains room for her dramatic skills to grow. In Dorothy’s climactic scenes with Evillene, Lewis’ is posture far too relaxed for someone facing imminent death.
Hannah Beachler’s set remains an intricate, puzzle-solving delight. Students of Black history may want to uncover all the visual symbols that the Oscar-winning designer has hidden in her set. Challenge friends to find the adinkra symbols, the quilt patterns used on the Underground Railway, the buildings shaped like Black hairstyles. The winner will get a prize.
Beachler’s version of Munchkinland, where Dorothy’s house accidentally kills Evamean, the Wicked Witch of the East, is still modeled on New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood, with its jazz funerals and Louis Armstrong arch. The neighborhood isn’t identified specifically as Treme in this production, but those in the know will know. The rest of us can buy a guidebook.
But the way the cast dances in front of that set has changed quite a bit since its Baltimore incarnation. For example, the song “A Brand New Day” now tips its tie-dyed bandana to 1967 and the musical “Hair.”
While the big Emerald City Ballet opening the second act continues to be a tutorial on the history of Black dance styles from disco to street dance to hip-hop, Beyoncé’s choreographer JaQuel Knight has axed some movements that didn’t quite work (including a repeated sequence when the dancers gathered at one end of the stage to perform a slow-motion, undulating wave) and substituted movements that do. There’s lots of fresh arm combinations that form interesting geometric shapes.
The biggest improvement is the enhanced use of Daniel Brodie’s video projections. Now, they run throughout the show, and with the exception of occasional missteps (we don’t really need the Disney star to accompany “Brand New Day”) they enhance the storytelling.
My favorite was the Evil Eye that Evillene calls upon to uncover people hidden from her view. When she asks the Eye to locate her sister, the Eye conjures up two commemorative t-shirts celebrating Evamean’s demise.
So Famous Footwear, please hurry. With this much going for it, it would be a shame if this revival of “The Wiz” never found its way home.
If You Go:
“The Wiz” runs through Aug. 18 at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway, 210 W. 46th St., New York. Tickets cost $80 to $422. A limited number of rush tickets will be sold daily for $45. For details, visit wizmusical.com.
