The Wiz
(Off-Broadway)
Opened 18 Jun 2009
at the NY City Center |
Photo by Robert J. Saferstein
 | | Ashanti and James Monroe Iglehart |
| Score: | Charlie Small |
| Lyrics: | Charlie Small |
| Book: | William F. Brown |
Director:
| Thomas Kail |
Cast:
| Ashanti (Dorothy)
Orlando Jones (The Wiz), LaChanze (Glinda), Tichina Arnold (Evillene), Dawnn Lewis (Addaperle), Joshua Henry (Tinman), James Monroe Iglehart (Lion), Christian White (Scarecrow), Raymond Bennett, Tanya Birl, Darlesia Cearcy, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Angela Grovey, Ebony Haswell, Lauren Lim Jackson, Carl Lation, Maurice Lauchner, Jennifer Locke, Amy McClendon, Kenna Morris, John Eric Parker, Herman Payne, Ryan Rankine, Levensky Smith, Ephraim Sykes, Adrienne Warren, Daniel J. Watts, Juson Williams and Will Wingfield. |
Synopsis:
| The Wiz is an all-black adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, told from the African-American perspective. |
What the press had to say.....
"bumpy new revival"
Charles Isherwood
New York Times
"overwrought and unfocused"
Joe Dziemianowicz
New York Daily News
"Uh-oh, we're in trouble. As Dorothy, Ashanti has a sweet voice that can turn powerful when required, but she sticks to the same expression -- blank befuddlement -- the entire time."
Elizabeth Vincentelli
New York Post
"there is a good deal here captivating enough for an evening of much euphoria"
John Simon
Bloomberg
"Despite her winsome presence, Ashanti proves not to be a natural theater actor, and, even more surprising, her silvery voice sounds thin and bland"
Linda Winer
NewsDay
"Despite the weakness of two central performances, this is a wiz of a show"
David Sheward
Back Stage
"it comes across as a meandering, one-joke show."
Robert Feldberg
The Record
"Ashanti, plays Dorothy with a woodenness only the Tinman could love." & "a mixed bag of celebrity and musical treats that alternately delight and disappoint."
Roma Torre
NY1
"this spectacle of color and sound aims high in many regards, and succeeds in most."
Peter Sanilli
"this "Wiz" doesn't exactly make you want to click your heels."
Frank Scheck
The Hollywood Reporter
"the show is a limp spectacle -- a fantasy bereft of magic."
David Rooney
Variety
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