The Wiz Live!: Raising the Bar
The Wiz Live!, a performance full of life, aired a few days ago on NBC. The imagery was magical. The script was a combination of the expected and the unexpected. When the Wiz played by Queen Latifah asked Dorothy Gale (Shanice Williams), “Who you callin’ a coward?,” fans of the rapper turned actress, turned TV host, jazz stylist, producer, etc., etc., knew that the question was an homage to a very early rap hit where the Queen asks: “Who you callin’ a b—-?”
What could anyone whisper about the music without screaming the same about the voices. Oh, those voices! Stephanie Mills, the original Dorothy, her voice, made famous by R&B songs like “I Feel Good All Over,” reminded us what was so good about the 1978 movie adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, featuring Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the timid Scarecrow. It was as though the old ushered in the new. And the new, Shanice Williams as Dorothy, with such grace and poise beyond her 19 years, neither disappointed nor scuffed the ‘ruby red’ slippers, so to speak.
The Wiz: The 1978 Movie Phenomenon
Shanice Williams’ voice was both angelic and powerful, whether she was speaking or belting out Wiz favorites like “Ease on Down the Road” and “Home.” But especially powerful in the passion of song.
Worth mentioning on repeat was the terrifying glory of the twister which thrust Dorothy and Aunt Em’s house into the Land of Oz. Pure theatre magic, à la Cirque du Soleil. The lovely Poppies had winding, bending rivers for torsos, with moves to make serpents envious. Shout out to Choreographer Fatima Robinson, who knows how to make a belly dance!
At Blackbiter.com, we never eat crow, but we do relish a nice black bird.
What Funky Flying Monkeys?
The Crows were especially amusing: taking flight, spreading their ebony wings, necks ticking like second hands on clocks, bodies slick and downy in some places, straight hood in others, flitting and humming, all crowned with shiny mohawks, as they clowned the Scarecrow.
Speaking of shiny mohawks.
The costuming was exquisite. Scarecrow’s hair, which was as wicked as Evilene’s (Mary J. Blige) and her ever mean sister Evermean, was literally like straw. Scarecrow’s eyes and voice (Elijah Kelly) were almost as soft and mesmerizing as Michael Jackson’s in the role. Comedic Actor David Alan Grier’s Cowardly Lion, who provoked no dread, was a beautifully deep-throated, dred-locked beast. Ne-Yo’s Tin Man was all shine, moving less like a tin can than water or oil beading and flowing across the yellow brick road. Like those hypnotic singers Michael Jackson, Usher, and Chris Brown, it’s easy to be lulled into forgetting how “bad” Ne-Yo’s dance moves can be. Like the fire that melted tin into mercury.
Worth seeing again…
The makeup was almost as fetching as the lustrous costumes and sets. Mary J. Blige’s appearance and performance as Evilene (W.W. of W.) forced us to forget Mary J. Blige, Queen of Hip Hop. For a rapper, Common’s timing as Gatekeeper to The Emerald City seemed off. Did he forget his few lines? Perhaps he should have been cast as the Tin Man; the little he was required to offer was quite stiff. Dare we say, ‘common’ and nearly as forgettable as the funky monkeys, who came bursting out like kids playing Hide & Go Seek in PJs? Funky monkeys, yep, the only costume fail. Luckily, just beyond the common doorman hid the delightfully fraudulent, gender-bending Wiz, Queen Latifah.
Yes, it’s true! Ratings aside, in more ways than one, The Wiz Live! dropped a house on Peter and his pots and Pan. Aside from the usual glitches in a live show, such as bad camera angles, this 3-hour spectacle was stellar!
The Wiz Live! is available on DVD.
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What did you enjoy the most about Director Kenny Leon and Choreographer Fatima Robinson’s production of The Wiz Live!
