The affection and esteem in which The Wiz is held, especially by audiences of colour, proves that it is bigger than any one flawed production.
‘I even played the Scarecrow at school!’ … Matthew Xia. “It is ultimately an experiment in Black culture taking up space.” Some of the choices are, like: ‘Why have you decided to do that? Why is Dorothy 34 years old?’” Its significance, though, remains undiminished. “Watching the film recently, I think it’s kind of wacky. “I even played the Scarecrow at school when I was 15,” says the bearded, wiry 39-year-old during a break from rehearsals. The London-born director Matthew Xia, who is now overseeing a retooled version at the Hope Mill theatre in Manchester, adored it as a teenage Michael Jackson fan. The show’s reputation was hardly fortified by Sidney Lumet’s 1978 film version, a notorious flop despite its once-in-a-lifetime cast: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor. It’s surprising, then, that this musical by Charlie Smalls (music and lyrics) and William F Brown (book) has been revived so infrequently over the years, or that reviews have sometimes been the critical equivalent of the bucket of water with which Dorothy vanquishes the Wicked Witch of the West. The Wiz, which filters the same story through the prism of African American culture, won seven Tonys during its initial Broadway run in 1975. But there is another, lesser-known spin-off from L Frank Baum’s original novel. Its stage prequel, Wicked, has been running non-stop since 2003.
#One wild moment 2015 movie#
T he Wizard of Oz is a movie masterpiece that still glitters like a ruby slipper.