Based on L. Frank Baum's children's book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", The Wiz takes one of the world's most enduring (and enduringly white) American fantasies, and transforms it into an all-Black musical extravaganza for the ages. Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), this entirely reimagined revival is directed by Schele Williams, choreographed by Jaquel Knight, additional material by Amber Ruffin, and music supervision, orchestrations, and music arrangements by Joseph Joubert.
Sadly, don’t expect to hear the same kind of exuberance for director Schele Williams’ current production of “The Wiz” at the Marquis Theatre – at least from me. Yes, the show remains a crowd-pleaser, with its catchy Charlie Smalls songs (I’m still humming “Ease on Down the Road”) and clever-enough, fairly faithful book by William F. Brown (here punched up with some contemporary jokes by Amber Ruffin) to keep us entertained for 2 ½ hours. Still Broadway audiences deserve something far better than this middling national-tour production that has been dropped into the Marquis for a limited run the same way Dorothy’s house was dropped into Oz after a tornado. True, no fatality occurs, just a sadly missed opportunity to introduce the show to new audiences (as well as delight older ones) with a first-rate reimagining of this beloved material.
The closest the revival gets is during Dorothy’s big journey back to Kansas as she sings “Home.” There, thankfully, the focus stays on the performance: The backdrop shifts to a black sky punctuated by stars, and Williams has Lewis illuminated by a spotlight belting her heart out from center stage. I felt my heart rising as Lewis sang, but even then the spell was incomplete. The Wiz’s sound design, which had been glitchy for much of the show, was askew, at least from my vantage point, and Lewis struggled to make herself heard above the orchestra. The effect was, as with so much of the revival, of missing out on a moment that could have been great, if only given more care and fine tuning.
General Rush
Price: $45
Where: Marquis Theatre box office (210 W 46th St)
When: Beginning at 10 AM ET on the day of the performance.
Limit: Two per customer.
Information: Subject to daily availability. Seat locations for this program vary and may be available in all sections of the theatre. Locations are determined each by the show’s management and assigned at the discretion of the Box Office at time of purchase.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $45
Where: https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/the-wiz-ny/.
When: Winners are drawn the same day at 3 PM ET and will have one hour to pay for their tickets online.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Lottery seats may be partial view.
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