Review

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Fizz of a Wiz

By Eric Shanower

November 21, 2006

La Jolla--I have to admit that I was pretty underwhelmed by the current production of The Wiz at the La Jolla Playhouse.

I was disappointed that they cut so much of the music and so many of the songs. The actresses playing Evillene and Addaperle were remarkably lackluster. Ninety-nine per cent of the time I have no problem with color-blind casting in theater, but the part of Addaperle was written for a black woman and it just didn't work with a white woman in the role--or maybe just THAT white woman.

I found the Scarecrow pretty lifeless as he struggled to stay on beat and get through "I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday." Dorothy was barely adequate. The Tin Woodman was enjoyable and I really liked the Cowardly Lion. Glinda was pretty riveting, despite getting short-changed in the song department--"Rested Body" was cut, except for a few lines of lyrics inserted into a reprise of "The Feeling We Once Had," and a chorus entered for the last section of "If You Believe" completely pulled focus away from Glinda and Dorothy's big moment.

The whole show didn't hold together. It was pretty much a mess.

This production inserted Toto into the adventure in Oz, and while the human actor was absolutely amazing as Toto—his tongue-wagging gymnastics perhaps the best thing about the show—there was absolutely no reason for Toto to be in Oz. He was distracting and superfluous. The other characters barely interacted with Toto—it was like they didn't realize he was there. Dorothy patted him on the head once or twice, but otherwise she completely ignored him. Where's the ASPCA when you need it?

The sets and costumes were mostly incredibly attractive, so kudos to the designers.

David Allen Grier as the Wiz was a fizz. He looked like a secretary, not a wizard, sitting behind his desk and trying, but failing miserably, to put over "So You Wanted To Meet the Wizard."

To be fair, many of the problems were due to the ineffective directorial choices and bizarre staging that undercut the story and emotional content in scene after scene. Perhaps the weirdest part came in the very first scene when the actor playing Uncle Henry, who I first assumed was a fix-it man working on the satellite tv dish, approached the actress playing Dorothy. She shrank from him with such a look of revulsion that the abuse scenes from Geoff Ryman's Was immediately sprang into my mind. NOT an auspicious start to this show.

I'm afraid not even a cyclone could get this Wiz off the ground. Too bad, since done with some intelligence, The Wiz is a great show. (I saw the energetic and amiable 1993 revival with original Broadway cast members Stephanie Mills and Andre deShields, so I know whereof I write.

There's talk of this La Jolla production going to Broadway. I wouldn't be surprised, knowing the sort of thing that makes it to Broadway these days. And it may even be financially and popularly successful. That doesn't, however, mean it's an artistic success. Wish it was.

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