The Wiz

DOG DAYS Ashanti follows the yellow brick road with Toto.

Photograph: Robert J. Saferstein

When The Wiz first eased on down the Main Stem in 1975, it didn’t look like it was going to become a classic. After a shaky out-of-town tryout, the all-black reimagining of The Wizard of Oz opened to a pan from the great-and-powerful New York Times, and the producer considered closing the show. Then, as though heeding the musical’s inspirational anthem “Believe in Yourself,” the backers proved their faith by investing in a splashy TV commercial. Audiences came in droves, and the production went on to win seven Tonys, including Best Musical.

Despite that fairy-tale ending, The Wiz’s legacy hasn’t been happily-ever-after. The 1978 film adaptation, starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, was a bust (BAM is screening it on June 27); a 1984 Broadway revival closed after a handful of performances; and a 2006 incarnation in La Jolla, California, rumored to be headed east, never arrived. Maybe the tuner’s initial success had less to do with artistic merit than uncanny timing: hitting the stage at the height of the black-is-beautiful movement. In the age of Obama, is the show archaic?

“I don’t think so,” says Thomas Kail, the director of City Center’s Encores! Summer Stars revival of The Wiz, headlined by pop singer Ashanti and a host of other big African-American names, including Tony winner LaChanze and TV actors Orlando Jones and Tichina Arnold. “The Wiz is timeless. It has huge heart and a sense of joy, which I think is why it’s deeply rooted in so many people’s lives. We all know where Dorothy’s going; we know where she’s coming from. It’s the ride and the characters and the humanity that endure.”

Indeed, while The Wiz may not have had much luck commercially over the past 25 years, it’s a perennial favorite of schools and community theaters—just type the title into YouTube and you’ll be amazed at the rainbow of casts represented. Even Stephen Sondheim’s a fan: He saw the original six times and counts it among his favorite musicals.

Understandably, the show resonates strongly in the African-American community. “When I first heard about this production, I was like, Hell yeah, I’m auditioning for it!” enthuses Arnold, late of the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, who plays Evillene (a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West). “The Wiz left such a big impression on me as a child. It was the first movie that I played for my daughter when she was two. In the black community, every little kid has seen it.”

The fact that so many folks are familiar with the material via the film presents a challenge for the stage show. Sidney Lumet’s movie transported the action to New York City and portrayed Oz as an urban nightmare. “I hated that movie,” gripes William F. Brown, The Wiz’s book writer. “It took all of the magic out of the show.” This revival intends to put it back. Unlike the La Jolla production, which featured a book updated with, as Brown puts it, “a lot of computer and e-mail nonsense,” this Wiz reverts to the original script, orchestrations and setting. “My approach to the show is very simple,” explains Kail. “It sort of lives in this contemporary world, which isn’t explicitly today or yesterday. Oz has this heightened enchanted feeling that’s deeply ingrained in Dorothy’s Kansas upbringing. I think the material and the music transcend any style or time.”

Brown is especially gratified to see the show he created with late composer-lyricist Charlie Smalls getting such a lavish and loving revival, and harbors hope for a Broadway transfer. “That’s what we’ve been working for—for it to come back,” he says. “I think the show’s as fresh and exciting today as it was when it came out. In the beginning, the audiences were mostly black, but then whites began coming when they realized the show had a universal message. The [Judy] Garland movie was like apple pie. This is more like sweet potato pie.”

The Wiz is playing at City Center through July 5.

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