At the heart of the Lyric Stage Company’s production of “The Wiz” are questions of home, says director Dawn M. Simmons.

“Do you run away from it or do you go back to it? There are all of these possibilities in the show. Dorothy makes a decision to go back,” Simmons says. “The questions we’re trying to get people to wrestle with is can you go back again? Do you go back again? Do you keep moving on? Do you try to solve it and make it better?”

The Boston company’s revival of the 1974 musical—which opens tonight, May 18, and runs through June 24—is a family-oriented show, “a soulful retelling” of L. Frank Baum’s beloved 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” that “combines fairy-tale glamour with street smarts to make a classic fantasy sparkle for today,” the theater explains. The show is powered by the classic songs “Ease on Down the Road,” “A Brand New Day” and “Home” that earned it seven Tony Awards in 1975, including best musical and best score.

"The Wiz" by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)

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“The Wiz” debuted on Broadway when hints of the civil rights movement were beginning to percolate into Broadway theater—with some shows in the 1960s that addressed racism and in the 1970s in which the cast and creative staff were predominantly African-American. “The Wiz” was a landmark in its reinvention of “The Wizard of Oz” through an African American lens—developed by a black producer and composer and starring an all-black cast. It went on to spawn the 1978 film starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

“There are a lot of us who grew up going to that movie,” Simmons says. “Our version can’t be the same, but it is a love letter to that movie and representation of our culture on the stage and in the country.”

The Lyric production is cast entirely with actors of color. Salome B. Smith plays Dorothy, who is transported from her home in Kansas into a dazzlingly magical and often frightening Oz, and seeks to make her way back home again. “We tried to bridge the terribleness with the person who is so open right now,” Simmons says. “I’m terrified and then I’m working my way through the world.”

"The Wiz" by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)

Dorothy befriends a scarecrow (Elle Borders), a tin man (Steven Martin) and a lion (Brandon G. Green). Together they face down a wizard (Davron S. Monroe) and evil witch (Yewande Odetoyinbo).

“When we leave home, we make new families. How do they hold equal weights, equal importance, how do they change us?” Simmons says. “Especially in a city [Boston] that does not feel all that welcoming to people of color, how do we find a place here?”

The director (Simmons), music director (Allyssa Jones), choreographer (Jean Appolon), scenic designer (Baron E. Pugh), and costume designer (Amber Voner) are also folks of color.

“It’s political in that it is cast with all black people telling their story,” Simmons says. “It’s not political with a capital P. It’s the politics of everyday. How do we navigate everyday situations in this heightened world? … Whenever there is an opportunity for artists of color to be on stage, to be leaders …. that is a political act.”

"The Wiz" by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)

In the Lyric production, Oz is seasoned with flavors of New Orleans—the city’s distinctive Greek revival porticos and double galleries (porches and balconies), the music (gospel, jazz, second line, zydeco, banjo), the sunny Caribbean yellows and greens. “That feeling of heat is what we’re trying to bring,” Simmons says.

The musical’s signature song, “Ease on Down the Road,” becomes a second line brass band number played by the show’s live eight-piece band.

“The idea of a second line ‘Ease on Down the Road,’” Simmons says, “is our jumping off point.”

The Scarecrow becomes a woman, offering an opportunity for “sisterhood.” The Tin Man becomes “a living statue.” The Lion becomes “a club kid with mommy issues” and “a pill problem.” The Wiz is a “black dandy.” The wicked witch Evilene becomes a “voodoo priestess,” Simmons says.

“What I like about New Orleans as an inspiration place,” Simmons says, “is it’s like no other place in the country, no other place in the world, and it gave us a lot to play with.”

"The Wiz" by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)

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Categories: Theater