{"id":7294,"date":"2018-05-18T13:59:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T17:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=7294"},"modified":"2018-05-18T13:59:23","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T17:59:23","slug":"wiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/05\/18\/wiz\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Wiz\u2019 Returns With An All-People-Of-Color Cast And New Orleans Atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the heart of the Lyric Stage Company\u2019s production of \u201cThe Wiz\u201d<\/a> are questions of home, says director Dawn M. Simmons.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo 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,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cThe questions we\u2019re 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Boston company\u2019s revival of the 1974 musical\u2014which opens tonight, May 18, and runs through June 24\u2014is a family-oriented show, \u201ca soulful retelling\u201d of L. Frank Baum’s beloved 1900 novel \u201cThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz\u201d that \u201ccombines fairy-tale glamour with street smarts to make a classic fantasy sparkle for today,\u201d the theater explains. The show is powered by the classic songs “Ease on Down the Road,” “A Brand New Day” and “Home\u201d that earned it seven Tony Awards in 1975, including best musical and best score.<\/p>\n

\""The<\/a>
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Wiz\u201d debuted on Broadway when hints of the civil rights movement were beginning to percolate into Broadway theater\u2014with some shows in the 1960s that addressed racism and in the 1970s in which the cast and creative staff were predominantly African-American. \u201cThe Wiz\u201d was a landmark in its reinvention of \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d through an African American lens\u2014developed 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of us who grew up going to that movie,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cOur version can\u2019t be the same, but it is a love letter to that movie and representation of our culture on the stage and in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cWe tried to bridge the terribleness with the person who is so open right now,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cI\u2019m terrified and then I\u2019m working my way through the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""The<\/a>
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we leave home, we make new families. How do they hold equal weights, equal importance, how do they change us?\u201d Simmons says. \u201cEspecially in a city [Boston] that does not feel all that welcoming to people of color, how do we find a place here?\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s political in that it is cast with all black people telling their story,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cIt\u2019s not political with a capital P. It\u2019s the politics of everyday. How do we navigate everyday situations in this heightened world? \u2026 Whenever there is an opportunity for artists of color to be on stage, to be leaders \u2026. that is a political act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""The<\/a>
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the Lyric production, Oz is seasoned with flavors of New Orleans\u2014the city\u2019s distinctive Greek revival porticos and double galleries (porches and balconies), the music (gospel, jazz, second line, zydeco, banjo), the sunny Caribbean yellows and greens. \u201cThat feeling of heat is what we\u2019re trying to bring,\u201d Simmons says.<\/p>\n

The musical\u2019s signature song, \u201cEase on Down the Road,\u201d becomes a second line brass band number played by the show\u2019s live eight-piece band.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of a second line \u2018Ease on Down the Road,\u2019\u201d Simmons says, \u201cis our jumping off point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Scarecrow becomes a woman, offering an opportunity for \u201csisterhood.\u201d The Tin Man becomes \u201ca living statue.\u201d The Lion becomes \u201ca club kid with mommy issues\u201d and \u201ca pill problem.\u201d The Wiz is a \u201cblack dandy.\u201d The wicked witch Evilene becomes a \u201cvoodoo priestess,\u201d Simmons says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about New Orleans as an inspiration place,\u201d Simmons says, \u201cis it\u2019s like no other place in the country, no other place in the world, and it gave us a lot to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""The<\/a>
“The Wiz” by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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At the heart of the Lyric Stage Company\u2019s production of \u201cThe Wiz\u201d are questions of home, says director Dawn M. Simmons. \u201cDo 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,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cThe questions we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[37,359],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7294"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7330,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7294\/revisions\/7330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}