Once upon a time (1900) a man named L. Frank Baum wrote a children’s book titled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” That book spawned more books and enriched an entire generation of young readers, just as the Harry Potter books are doing today.
The basic story concerns a young heroine named Dorothy, swept up in a tornado to the Land of Oz with her dog Toto. When it falls to earth, the Kansas house in which she lived with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry kills a Wicked Witch. Dorothy sets off to the Emerald City of Oz. She’s been told that the great Wizard who rules there can send her back to Kansas. Along the Yellow Brick Road she meets a Scarecrow, a Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion. All go to Oz with her, hoping the Wizard can give them what they lack: brains, a heart, and bravery, respectively. The Wizard is a sham, but through a quest he devises for the friends they discover that each already possesses the attribute he longs for. Dorothy, too, discovers she has the power to go home.
Baum’s simple story knew many other incarnations, among them a 1903 Broadway show with book and lyrics by Baum and music by A. Baldwin Sloane and Paul Tiejens; the amazing 1939 film with Judy Garland; the original Tony Award-winning “Wiz” in 1975; and most recently the 2004 Broadway musical “Wicked.”
For his re-imagined “Wiz” (seen for review purposes Oct. 11) La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff assembles a fabulous company of singer/dancer/actors, who “Ease on Down the Road” that snakes through the audience, aisles and the fly loft of the Mandell Weiss Theatre.
With a tweaked book, lyrics, and orchestrations (music is performed live from lofts on either side of the audience) the show’s other stars are Robert Brill’s fantastic set, Paul Tazewell’s awe-inspiring costumes, and myriad intricate technologies of sound, light and movement. The show seeks to out gee-whiz the Wizard, and perhaps it succeeds, but those who attended the opening will never know. Fifteen minutes into the show, McAnuff stopped it to track down a white noise that had appeared to bedevil perfection. The show began anew a half-hour late. Then a computer failure necessitating a reboot caused a 20-minute delay prior to Act II.
Other than all that glitch, no doubt caused by an itinerant witch, the show went on. Technology aside and largely due to the talent, it has all the brains, heart and courage one could wish. Particularly affecting is the duet between Auntie Em (cello-voiced Valarie Pettiford) and Dorothy (sweet, natural, unspoiled Nikki M. James). Character and audience rapport are easily and firmly established by Tituss Burgess (Lion), Rashad Naylor (Scarecrow) and Michael Benjamin Washington (Tin Man) with their initial songs, respectively “Mean Old Lion,” “I Was Born on the Day Before Yesterday,” and “Slide Some Oil to Me.”
Tears were evoked by the friends’ quartet called “What Would I Do?” and the Winkies’ emancipation number, “Everybody Rejoice (Brand New Day).”
In one of Tazewell’s funniest costumes, Heather Lee scored as Addaperle, one of Oz’s four witches. Her sister Glinda (Pettiford) finally solves Dorothy’s dilemma and as reward gets to sing “If You Believe.”
The whirling Munchkins (half real, half pudgy puppets) are adorable, and so is Toto (dancer/mime Albert Blaise Cattafi). The ensemble and dancers, some of them flyers, are brave and beautiful, choreographed by Sergio Trujillo. Regarding E. Faye Butler as Evillene and David Alan Grier as The Wiz: Both have big voices and large presence, but the heart of the show is the camaraderie and love brought to it by Dorothy and her triumphant pals. The rest is all smoke and mirrors.
When technology works, it’s a wonderful thing. But the opening of McAnuff’s “The Wiz” causes one to wonder why talent and heart are not enough.
“The Wiz” has been extended through Sunday, Nov. 26 at the Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive on the UCSD campus. For information, schedule and tickets, visit www.lajollaplayhouse.com or call (858) 550-1010.