All white on the night for dorothy's wiz
THE award winning Broadway musical The Wiz was performed for the first time in 1975 and, after a stuttering start, became a very big hit, writes Roy Atterbury.This is surprising because when I went to see the production at the Edward Alderton Theatre in Bexleyheath last week, the show was completely new to me. I suspected from its title that it was something to do with The Wizard of Oz and, sure enough, a young girl called Dorothy and her dog Toto are swept to Oz by a typhoon where she meets witches, the Munchkins, a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion. They set off down a yellow brick road to find the great Wiz in the hope that he can sort out their problems.However, The Wiz has completely original music and lyrics by Charlie Small and a book by William F. Brown that was written for an African American cast that originally included Dian Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the scarecrow. The land of Oz became a tough, urban area in a city like New York - complete with drugs, a savage gang culture, and a lot of unhappy people. And it had a message for its audiences.Much can happen over a period of more than thirty years although I am not at all sure what has happened to The Wiz. The EAT production had a white cast, was set in a land that looked very much like the original Oz, and was staged with some colourful scenery, delightful costumes and, other than the music, did not appear too different to L. Frank Baum's original masterpiece. Yet, even without any guidance from the programme, parts of the show were unsettling - for example the lion began to drift off into a trance while standing in a field of poppies and was arrested by the Mice Squad (read 'V' for 'M'.).But the theme of the show is encapsulated by one song called 'If you believe in yourself''- suggesting, I suppose, that self belief can actually help to overcome almost any problem or achieve any aim.With 12 principals and around 20 other characters, dancers, and singers, the director Wendy Marsh created a few minor miracles on her creativity on the small stage with the help of choreographer Jenny Appleby. Her task was made easier by the fact that Dorothy (a very talented Charlotte Jacobs), the Scarecrow (a bubbly Linda Gaye), the Lion (Chris Manning-Perry), and the Tin Man (David Oatley) were all perfect for their parts and Keith Harper excelled as The Wiz. The dancing, singing, and Richard Andrews' band were generally good but some background notes on the show would have been a big help and, unfortunately, unexpected back-stage problems on the second night caused over-long delays in the set changes.
http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/content/bromley/times/whatson/story.aspx?brand=BMLYTOnline&category=whatsontheatre&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=whatsonbmlyt&itemid=WeED20%20Jul%202006%2015:45:52:477
http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/content/bromley/times/whatson/story.aspx?brand=BMLYTOnline&category=whatsontheatre&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=whatsonbmlyt&itemid=WeED20%20Jul%202006%2015:45:52:477
