In this "Wiz," everyone's a lion
By John Moore Denver Post Theater Critic
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Regan Linton plays a Tin Girl in need of some oil in "The Wiz." (Courtesy PHAMALy)
If courage is doing what you are afraid to do, no one is even remotely in need of a wizard here.
The players from the handicapped theater company PHAMALy screw their courage to the witch's broomstick each time they get out of bed. Heart, brains and bravery are on full display in all five corners of the Denver Center stage for this year's production of "The Wiz."
But while you can count on PHAMALy to rise to any challenge, "The Wiz" is, regrettably, kind of a lousy challenge.
If you've never seen this remarkable troupe's annual musical spectacular, you'll likely leave duly impressed, perhaps even awed. But anyone who has followed PHAMALy likely will admit "The Wiz" is a problematic choice of fare. That or they're looking at things through emerald-colored glasses.
It's not only because "The Wiz" is a black musical and only three of its 32 actors are black. It is counterintuitive to what it does best. This 1978 urban "Wizard of Oz" take-off is a dated pile of schmaltz that invites patronizing admiration bordering on condescension. Its few good tunes are trumped by ack-worthy ones.
At its stereotype-obliterating best, PHAMALy takes sentimentality, cliché and "woe are we" and melts them like a witch. It blows people away because it is self-deprecating and jarringly unsentimental. I gaped during 1999's "Sideshow," when the most disfigured actors got in my face and challenged me in song to "come look at the freaks." It was genius last year when director Steve Wilson set the otherwise mirthful "Joseph" in an institution. That layering entertains audiences while forcing them to re-examine their preconceptions and prejudices.
"The Wiz" is a long exercise with a children's theater mentality. Telling a handicapped actor to "be a lion" and to "believe in yourself" is too trite and simplistic for PHAMALy. And taking nearly three hours to say so becomes a drag.
The creative team, perhaps sensing the shortfalls in the score and script, throws more bells and whistles at "The Wiz" than ever before. We're talking costumes, lighting, set, props, sound and special effects, a terrific live band and astounding makeup. All of which is great - and a clue that there is some serious compensation going on.
This year the actors' disabilities are incorporated into certain characters: Dorothy (Juliet Villa) and the cowardly Lion (Don Mauk) are blind; good witch Addaperle (Lucy Roucis) has Parkinson's. It's inconsistent, and the storytelling doesn't always track, but the performances are memorable.
Classy Villa's pristine and lilting voice is reminiscent of Dinah Shore's, and her impeccably precise, memorized stage movements in the dark are awe-inspiring. And no one is more at home on the stage than her seeing-eye dog, a black lab who doubles as Toto.
Veterans Leonard Barrett and the ridiculously funny Roucis are at their best as His Wizness and Addaperle. Roucis has a smile that could light up the yellow-brick road at midnight. Barrett appears on giant prosthetic legs that make him look 16 feet tall, then blows the ozone off the Ozian
sky with "Y'all Got It."
Thanks to some fancy effects, the wicked witch (Tara Cowan) first appears by video across the stage floor (she's acting into a live camera backstage). When this industrial hag finally wheels herself onstage, it's in full, 3-D, "Blade Runner" glory.
Wilson's signature touch is his clever asides, including jokes about what Dorothy can't see, Toto being color blind and a wheelchaired Tin Girl (Regan Linton) performing a tap dance with cans in her hands.
In the end, what's most moving may be inadvertent. Of course it's not written for Dorothy to ask the Wiz to see, or for the Tin Girl to walk, so they don't. But this omission tells the story of PHAMALy far better than "The Wiz" ever could - they all believe in themselves, just the way they are.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
"The Wiz" *** RATING
MUSICALPhysically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors LeagueDirected by Steve WilsonSpace Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts ComplexTHROUGH JULY 307:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (plus 7:30 p.m. July 24)2 hours, 45 minutes$28 303-893-4100, phamaly.org, all King Soopers
2more
COLORADO FESTIVAL OF WORLD THEATRE This annual innovative Colorado Springs gathering continues through July 30. Highlights include Peter Shaffer's "Black Comedy," Lynn Redgrave and Brian Murray appearing in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" and the return of Daniel Beatty's one man phenom "Emergence-See!" Other offerings include "Frogz," an amphibious performance piece from Portland, Ore., that includes penguins in musical chairs, acrobatic larvae, cats in paper bags and, yes, frogs. Also: actor Steven Berkoff performing as an array of Shakespeare's villains, and "Toxic Audio," a highly theatrical vocal band that explores the boundaries of the human voice. 719-955-2599 or go to cfwt.org for times and locations.
"THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ..." The hilarious Pam Clifton revisits Trudy the Bag Lady and the dozen other time-travelling aliens who populate this one-woman show. Opens tonight, then 7:30 p.m. alternating weekends only through Aug. 20 at the Backstage Theatre, 121 Ridge St. in Breckenridge. Tickets $15 (970-453-0199). Adults only.
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_4071595#
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Regan Linton plays a Tin Girl in need of some oil in "The Wiz." (Courtesy PHAMALy)
If courage is doing what you are afraid to do, no one is even remotely in need of a wizard here.
The players from the handicapped theater company PHAMALy screw their courage to the witch's broomstick each time they get out of bed. Heart, brains and bravery are on full display in all five corners of the Denver Center stage for this year's production of "The Wiz."
But while you can count on PHAMALy to rise to any challenge, "The Wiz" is, regrettably, kind of a lousy challenge.
If you've never seen this remarkable troupe's annual musical spectacular, you'll likely leave duly impressed, perhaps even awed. But anyone who has followed PHAMALy likely will admit "The Wiz" is a problematic choice of fare. That or they're looking at things through emerald-colored glasses.
It's not only because "The Wiz" is a black musical and only three of its 32 actors are black. It is counterintuitive to what it does best. This 1978 urban "Wizard of Oz" take-off is a dated pile of schmaltz that invites patronizing admiration bordering on condescension. Its few good tunes are trumped by ack-worthy ones.
At its stereotype-obliterating best, PHAMALy takes sentimentality, cliché and "woe are we" and melts them like a witch. It blows people away because it is self-deprecating and jarringly unsentimental. I gaped during 1999's "Sideshow," when the most disfigured actors got in my face and challenged me in song to "come look at the freaks." It was genius last year when director Steve Wilson set the otherwise mirthful "Joseph" in an institution. That layering entertains audiences while forcing them to re-examine their preconceptions and prejudices.
"The Wiz" is a long exercise with a children's theater mentality. Telling a handicapped actor to "be a lion" and to "believe in yourself" is too trite and simplistic for PHAMALy. And taking nearly three hours to say so becomes a drag.
The creative team, perhaps sensing the shortfalls in the score and script, throws more bells and whistles at "The Wiz" than ever before. We're talking costumes, lighting, set, props, sound and special effects, a terrific live band and astounding makeup. All of which is great - and a clue that there is some serious compensation going on.
This year the actors' disabilities are incorporated into certain characters: Dorothy (Juliet Villa) and the cowardly Lion (Don Mauk) are blind; good witch Addaperle (Lucy Roucis) has Parkinson's. It's inconsistent, and the storytelling doesn't always track, but the performances are memorable.
Classy Villa's pristine and lilting voice is reminiscent of Dinah Shore's, and her impeccably precise, memorized stage movements in the dark are awe-inspiring. And no one is more at home on the stage than her seeing-eye dog, a black lab who doubles as Toto.
Veterans Leonard Barrett and the ridiculously funny Roucis are at their best as His Wizness and Addaperle. Roucis has a smile that could light up the yellow-brick road at midnight. Barrett appears on giant prosthetic legs that make him look 16 feet tall, then blows the ozone off the Ozian
sky with "Y'all Got It."
Thanks to some fancy effects, the wicked witch (Tara Cowan) first appears by video across the stage floor (she's acting into a live camera backstage). When this industrial hag finally wheels herself onstage, it's in full, 3-D, "Blade Runner" glory.
Wilson's signature touch is his clever asides, including jokes about what Dorothy can't see, Toto being color blind and a wheelchaired Tin Girl (Regan Linton) performing a tap dance with cans in her hands.
In the end, what's most moving may be inadvertent. Of course it's not written for Dorothy to ask the Wiz to see, or for the Tin Girl to walk, so they don't. But this omission tells the story of PHAMALy far better than "The Wiz" ever could - they all believe in themselves, just the way they are.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
"The Wiz" *** RATING
MUSICALPhysically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors LeagueDirected by Steve WilsonSpace Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts ComplexTHROUGH JULY 307:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (plus 7:30 p.m. July 24)2 hours, 45 minutes$28 303-893-4100, phamaly.org, all King Soopers
2more
COLORADO FESTIVAL OF WORLD THEATRE This annual innovative Colorado Springs gathering continues through July 30. Highlights include Peter Shaffer's "Black Comedy," Lynn Redgrave and Brian Murray appearing in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" and the return of Daniel Beatty's one man phenom "Emergence-See!" Other offerings include "Frogz," an amphibious performance piece from Portland, Ore., that includes penguins in musical chairs, acrobatic larvae, cats in paper bags and, yes, frogs. Also: actor Steven Berkoff performing as an array of Shakespeare's villains, and "Toxic Audio," a highly theatrical vocal band that explores the boundaries of the human voice. 719-955-2599 or go to cfwt.org for times and locations.
"THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ..." The hilarious Pam Clifton revisits Trudy the Bag Lady and the dozen other time-travelling aliens who populate this one-woman show. Opens tonight, then 7:30 p.m. alternating weekends only through Aug. 20 at the Backstage Theatre, 121 Ridge St. in Breckenridge. Tickets $15 (970-453-0199). Adults only.
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_4071595#
