There’s No Place Like Broadway: Revival of ‘The Wiz’ Arrives at a Busy Time for Musical Theater

With the deadline for Tony Award nominations fast approaching, ambitious new Broadway musicals are springing up like mushrooms. This month’s crop would appear to have a feminist slant, as represented by the recent and imminent openings of “Lempicka” and the Public Theater-bred transfers “Suffs” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”There will likely be less competition for best revival of a musical this year: Maria Friedman’s extraordinary take on “Merrily We Roll Along” has pretty much had that trophy wrapped up since arriving last fall, also after a downtown run. So there’s rather less pressure on a charming new production of an old classic that, not unlike the first trio of shows mentioned here, follows a female protagonist with a dream, and the resilience to see it through repeated obstacles.Granted, Dorothy, the young heroine of “The Wiz,” the long-beloved adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” — now being revived for only the second time on Broadway — has a pretty simple goal: that of getting back to Kansas. Also, the Wicked Witch, for all her nastiness, would seem a less formidable opponent than the Bolsheviks and Nazis who loomed over painter Tamara de Lempicka’s life, or the forces of history confronted by Alice Paul, the women’s rights activist celebrated in “Suffs.”Yet part of what makes this “Wiz” appealing, especially right now, is that it doesn’t ask you to admire its social relevance — which was considerable when it had its premiere five decades ago, revisiting a story associated with one of the most cherished film musicals of all time with Black actors and a brand new, R&B-soaked score by Charlie Smalls. In this new staging, directed with a light hand and a big heart by Schele Williams, that score — which includes enduring favorites such as the blithely funky “Ease on Down the Road” and the shimmering ballad “Home” — is lovingly served by a cast of performers whose virtuosity is matched by their obvious joy in revisiting this material. Wayne Brady as The Wiz. Jeremy DanielAs Dorothy, a Broadway newcomer, Nichelle Lewis, wields a silvery soprano that can whisper or soar, along with a gentle pluck and an understated wonder that make her character’s ingenuousness convincing. A pair of musical theater vets, the comedian and actor Wayne Brady and the recording artist Deborah Cox, respectively have fun as Glinda, the good witch, and The Wiz, a smooth-talking grifter.The members of Dorothy’s traveling crew are represented by lesser-known but lavishly talented troupers. Avery Wilson’s delightfully goofy Scarecrow and Phillip Johnson Richardson’s more haunted but game Tinman bring dazzling song and dance skills to their roles, and Kyle Ramar Freeman invests Lion with a fittingly huge voice and comedic chops to match.Amber Ruffin, a TV veteran who brought her own facility for funny business to Broadway as co-librettist of 2022’s “Some Like It Hot,” has added a few cheeky contemporary references and wholesomely spicy jokes to William F. Brown’s book. When Dorothy tells The Wiz he has to free his townspeople and lift a witch’s curse on them, he deadpans, “All I got to do is stay Black and die.”Jaquel Knight’s frenetic choreography is similarly playful, while Sharen Davis’s costumes, Ryan J. O’Gara’s lighting, and Daniel Brodie’s video and projection design bathe the production in whimsy. Neon and pastel hues abound; in bad witch Evillene’s lair — she’s played by a preening Melody A. Betts, who doubles as Dorothy’s Aunt Em, exuding benevolence in the latter role — a demonic red is the prevailing shade.It could be argued that “The Wiz” is, in its humble way, a message musical — the message being that while there’s no place like home, the key lies in establishing a sense of community wherever we are. Then again, if you’re just up for a good time, you can ease on down here in comfort and confidence.

There’s No Place Like Broadway: Revival of ‘The Wiz’ Arrives at a Busy Time for Musical Theater

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