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Let me start with a confession: I\u2019ve never liked \u201cThe Wizard of Oz.\u201d But give me a retelling with, say, a Black Dorothy and Black Oz, and I\u2019m immediately clicking my heels.<\/p>\n
When \u201cThe Wiz\u201d debuted on Broadway in 1975, it was a colorful exclamation of Blackness on the stage. That\u2019s to say a Black score, by Charlie Smalls, including gospel and R&B; a Black cast; and Black audiences at the forefront.<\/p>\n
Then three years later the beloved Motown film adaptation, starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor, pulled a Black Dorothy from her home, not in Kansas but in Harlem, and the New York City boroughs were cleverly transmogrified into the stylish, futuristic Oz.<\/p>\n
Now \u201cThe Wiz\u201d returns to Broadway in a revival directed by Schele Williams and an updated book by Amber Ruffin<\/a>, with the aim of creating a take \u201cthrough the Blackest of Black lenses<\/a>.\u201d This new production, which opened at the Marquis Theater on Tuesday, showcases creative visuals and some standout performances, but stops short of bringing modern Blackness to Broadway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Here, Dorothy (Nichelle Lewis, in her Broadway debut) is a city girl who\u2019s moved to Kansas to live with her Aunt Em (Melody A. Betts, who later doubles as the deliciously brass-throated witch Evillene). But Dorothy doesn\u2019t feel at home and is being bullied by her classmates. A sudden meteorological anomaly flies Dorothy to Oz, where she seeks the counsel of the great and powerful Wiz (Wayne Brady) on how to get back home. Along the way she\u2019s joined by a scarecrow (Avery Wilson) in need of a brain, a tinman (Phillip Johnson Richardson) wanting a heart and a lion (Kyle Ramar Freeman) desperate for some courage. (Sorry dog-lovers, there\u2019s no Toto.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty of gold to be found along this yellow brick road. Deborah Cox\u2019s Glinda, the good witch, in a shimmering gold gown, looks like a jewel and sounds like one, too, with her crystalline voice switching from jazzy scatting to a sparkling falsetto in \u201cHe\u2019s the Wiz\u201d and later offering a triumphant performance of \u201cBelieve in Yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Glinda\u2019s not the only one with flashy fashion; the costume design, by Sharen Davis, draws from a wild, unpredictable range of time periods and trends. Ozians with blue Afro puffs, green extensions and multicolored braids flounce around in bright petticoats during a scene meant to replicate a New Orleans second-line parade; Evillene\u2019s army of evil poppies slinks around in \u201970s-style Afros and flare-legged jumpsuits, and the denizens of Emerald City saunter in Afro-futuristic outfits with ornate collars and fringe.<\/p>\n There\u2019s just as much color in the choreography, by JaQuel Knight, which offers an evocative m\u00e9lange of styles. Dorothy\u2019s tornado is summoned with a flurry of pirouetting dancers in billowing gray fabrics. Later those stiff-backed, graceful turns are just as quickly swapped for hunched, down-low Afro-Cuban steps and crisp hip-hop moves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The best performances in the production are likewise grounded in movement: Wilson is a playful scarecrow, his wobbly knees and freely flinging limbs showing off impressive flexibility and acrobatic skill. Freeman\u2019s dramatic prancing and marching as the lion pair perfectly with his character\u2019s \u2026 well, leonine theatricality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Add to the mix a popping-and-locking Tinman who also drops a soulful \u201cWhat Would I Do If I Could Feel\u201d and the charming showmanship of Brady\u2019s Wiz (armed with a lively exit number even more delightful than his entrance), and you\u2019ve got a cast of sidekicks who outshine the hero.<\/p>\n As Dorothy, Lewis dutifully hits the notes but is dwarfed by the stage and the performers around her. Though Ruffin\u2019s book offers a few modern updates to the lingo and gives her companions new back stories, Dorothy still lacks dimension, and Lewis struggles to fill her in with any emotional shading.<\/p>\n Despite its freewheeling fashions there\u2019s a hemmed-in quality to most of the production. This Dorothy and her adventure, like the overall direction, is bright and tidy but falls short in character. The animated backdrops of Oz often have a cutesy, over-glossed Pixar-movie feel. The pacing doesn\u2019t quite \u201cease on down\u201d as it does race through the show\u2019s two-and-a-half-hour running time; the settings and characters pass by in a blur. Even the musical arc of the show slumps into a routine, with a predictable build toward each big solo climax.<\/p>\n All of which is to say that \u201cThe Wiz\u201d is a pleasant, serviceable time at the theater, but as a new production of a musical with a legacy of bringing Blackness to one of Hollywood\u2019s and Broadway\u2019s favorite fairy tales, it\u2019s less satisfying.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There is a fresher production hinted at in the ecstatic array of costumes and mix of choreography. There\u2019s a stronger, more daring representation of modern-day Blackness suggested in the faint touches of New Orleans\u2019s Trem\u00e9 neighborhood and a character\u2019s quip about discovering their hair\u2019s curl pattern.<\/p>\n In the past this paper\u2019s critics weren\u2019t impressed by productions of this musical. In 1984 Frank Rich rashly dismissed the \u201ctacky\u201d Broadway production of a musical that he deemed \u201chardly great\u201d but \u201ca once-fervent expression of Black self-respect and talent.\u201d In his review of the original, in 1975, Clive Barnes wrote of a production with \u201cvitality\u201d and \u201cstyle\u201d that was nevertheless \u201ctiresome\u201d \u2014 perhaps because, he ventures, for him such fairy tales are only appealing when they\u2019re grounded in one\u2019s own experience. Does the show \u201csay different things to Blacks than to whites?\u201d asked a Black writer in The Times several months later. His answer was yes. So is mine.<\/p>\n Nearly 50 years later, with a similar degree of ambivalence, I wonder if a revival of one of theater\u2019s beloved Black musicals is truly a Black<\/em> experience. It feels more like just another night at the theater.<\/p>\n The Wiz<\/strong>
Through Aug. 18 at the Marquis Theater, Manhattan; wizmusical.com<\/a>. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n