With vivid colors used in the background as well as a grand array of costumes and striking lighting, The Wiz typifies Westcoast Black Theater Troupe at its best. The musical is an African-American journey to and recognition of the engulfing human habitat called home. For teenage Dorothy, that may be Harlem, but for all others in and out of Oz, it’s also shown as a place where a good life is found from giving and getting respect, love, and friendship. At the start, Khadijah Rolle, pretty in pink as Dorothy, bemoans having a difficult time finding her place in life. Tarra Conner jones [sic] as her Aunt Em tries with gospel-music fervor to communicate the problem’s a common feeling. Dorothy, chasing after her dog Toto, gets caught up in a whirlwind (represented by Chakara Rose in a fast “Tornado Ballet”), and the girl soon lands in Oz. She’s greeted by Oz’s Munchkin inhabitants (dancers with huge skirts covering them seated in rolling carts) and a sort of good witch, Addaperle (the always-delightful singer and comedian Ariel Blue). Dorothy discovers she’s killed a bad witch whose shoes she must wear until she reaches her heart’s desire, home. She has to follow four sophisticated, yellow-tuxed Bricks, ever rearranging themselves, to find and ask Oz’s Wizard to get her there. Dorothy’s adventure follows the familiar story’s path. First she releases Joey James, the loose-limbed Scarecrow caught on a fire escape and mocked by dancing female Crows. He’ll ask The Wiz for a brain instead of stuff that’s dangerous to him. As he and Dorothy “Ease On Down the Road” together, they hear Leon S. Pitts, II’s soulful “Slide Some Oil to Mel” They help him shed rust and clang down the road with them to ask for a heart. E. Mani Cadet is a stitch trying to be a “Mean Ole Lion” when he’s really a convoluted mama’s boy grown up to be a coward. When the others agree to his joining them as they “Ease on Down the Road,” he makes his tracks to ask The Wiz for courage. He does warn against a (dancing) poppy field that will delay all in sleep. Weather changes that. Outstanding green lighting that engulfs all but the entire audience creates the atmosphere for the Ensemble’s “Emerald City Ballet.” A Royal Gateman challenges Dorothy and Friends. But because she has the diamond slippers, they finally meet The Wiz (lithe but powerfully lyrical Michael Mendez). He charges them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, and the Tin Man leads that charge. In Act II, Tarra Conner jones’ wicked Evilene dominates with song and snarls (much appreciated by the audience when I attended). She will tolerate “No Bad News”--but everything that Funky Monkeys and everyone else in her service tells her or tries to do to avoid punishments is bad. When she’s hit with a pailful of what should be water but smokes in billows, she disappears. Friends and Ensemble sing of a “Brand New Day” dawning. Back to The Wiz, whose the supplicants are told to “Believe in Yourself.” When a balloon carries him off, on comes a beautiful Neyce Pierre as Glinda the Good Witch. Her magic is to strengthen everyone’s belief in themselves, love, and friendship. Doing so, Dorothy nicely sings of and reaches “Home.” The background of the set changes finally to multiple colors: a strong “rainbow” over an African American cast and the people they have symbolically portrayed. Kenney M. Green deserves kudos for his outstanding directing and choreographing of this colorful production.
