In 1974, a groundbreaking adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz” debuted to smashing success. “The Wiz” was not just another retelling of Dorothy’s journey to the Emerald City; the play’s all-Black cast sang original songs influenced by contemporary African American culture and shook up the theater industry in all the best ways.
Though the legacy of “The Wiz” never died, the play revamped its performance in the form of a 2024 tour featuring an updated vocabulary and a simplified story.
From March 17–22, Clowes Memorial Hall presented the current tour of “The Wiz” to ecstatic audiences. People from all over were united by the wonder and soul of Oz in this production, strengthening community and theater alike.
Among the musical’s long list of awe-inspiring songs was the ever-popular classic “Ease on Down The Road” — repeated every time Dorothy made a new friend — and newer entries like “You Can’t Win”, the Scarecrow’s introductory song from the 1978 movie in place of the original, “I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday”.
Noblesville resident Jeannie Vaughn believes the world of Oz deserves all the wildly different adaptations it can get.
“With ‘Wicked’ being out, I’ve been rereading all of the Wicked [books], and the original L. Frank Baum Oz [stories],” Vaughn said. “Honestly, his story is weird, so I really like the adaptations better, I think. Judy Garland [and] the classic ‘[The] Wizard of Oz’ movie, of course, is great, but even that’s different from the book.”
While “The Wiz” did not necessarily incorporate large-scale or elaborate props, its innovative use of a background screen truly brought Oz to the audience. The screen warped and shifted to fit whatever was happening on stage, making the production that much more sleek and stylish.
In a post-show Q&A, crew members explained how important the background screen was, so much so that a back-up screen is mounted directly behind in case of malfunctions. The crew also told all about behind-the-scenes rituals like Tin Man D. Jerome needing a fist bump before his introduction.
Between the crew’s constant attention and the cast’s all-timer performance, “The Wiz” came together as a series of show-stopping songs full of long and high notes galore. Almost every song ended with a dramatic swell worthy of a standing ovation, to which many audience members obliged.
Mikaela Bloemker, a sophomore acting major with an emphasis on costume design, was especially impressed with the design of the witches, both wicked and good.
“I think the costuming for the witches in the show [was] so eccentric and so interesting,” Bloemker said. “Evilene’s entire motif was fire, flames and heat, so her costume was a lot of blacks, oranges and reds to mimic the fire and the burning — but then Glinda was just a shining star. She was [wearing] gold and glitter and her bodice was almost like a disco ball. There were shards of glass or mirror … Casting all of these sparks of light around the entire auditorium.”
Besides their vocal performances, the cast’s most impressive feats were those of physical acting. The ensemble dancers portrayed the Yellow Brick Road and the opening tornado themselves, and the main quartet embodied their characters’ physicalities perfectly.
Throughout the whole play, the Scarecrow moved with the gangly gait that has represented the character for years, and the Lion was no stranger to near-slapstick levels of physical comedy. The Tin Man had the most impressive singular example of this with “Slide Some Oil to Me”, in which Jerome works one body part at a time until fully lubricated.
Avery Briggs, a first year speech, language and hearing sciences major who worked as an usher at “The Wiz”, emphasized the importance of timeliness for the cast, crew and the audience.
“A big thing [with] ‘The Wiz’ [being] a Broadway show was that if people did come late, there was a 10 minute seating hold,” Briggs said. “It is ultimately [so that] the performers have the best production they can have. Opening the doors and having all that light enter would ruin some of the ambiance in the room, not just for the performers, but also for the other people who were on time.”
From “Wicked” to “Oz the Great and Powerful”, L. Frank Baum’s world of Oz is always getting new adaptations, and “The Wiz” turned out so famous it continued to get one of its own. Though the latest revival aims to be more timeless than ever, African American culture and culture as a whole are constantly evolving, meaning that another update down the road is not impossible — and it most certainly is not unwelcome.
“THE WIZ (2024 Broadway Cast Recording)” is available to stream on Spotify.