The Wiz a modern take on beloved classic
This is not Judy Garland’s version of The Wizard of Oz
The Wiz debuted on Broadway 43 years ago and yet the musical still resonates with audiences today.
For Robert Ursan, the artistic director, music director and production director for Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre, it was an easy decision to have the company present the musical as the final production of its 2017-18 season.
“It really is a quality production. The songs are quite amazing. The style of them sounds so modern — they don’t sound dated at all,” said Ursan. “I love this show. It’s the second time I’ve been involved with it and it’s just so much fun.”
Based on L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published in 1900, The Wiz was written in 1974 by William F. Brown with lyrics and music by Charlie Smalls. Timothy Graphen-reed, Harold Wheeler, George Faison and Luther Vandross also contributed to the music with Vandross and Zachary Walzer contributing to the lyrics.
Baum’s book was first taken to the silver screen in 1939 with The Wizard of Oz, a feature film starring Judy Garland. The film has become a Hollywood treasure but for those attending the DIWC production, don’t expect to see a re-creation of the movie.
“If people are coming to see The Wizard of Oz, they’re not going to see The Wizard of Oz. The biggest thing about the musical is that it’s a modern take on that old story. It’s not trying to re-create the Judy Garland movie,” explained Ursan. “This is very modern music and very modern language to deal with the exact same plot. It does have a few extra bits and pieces that weren’t in The Wizard of Oz, things like Kalidahs, which were in the book but not in the original musical. All the basic plot points that people know are there but it’s through a very, very funny and modern kind of scope that they’re seeing it.”
The musical features 50 actors, and Ursan admitted it’s a challenge working with so many actors.
“It’s really interesting. I will admit that some days are absolute nightmares but then the rehearsal I had on Sunday evening was filled with so much fun,” said Ursan. “I haven’t had fun like that in a rehearsal hall in ages. It was incredible. The energy that these kids bring is truly, truly remarkable.”
While the quality of the musical attracted Ursan, the number of available roles was also a contributing factor to selecting The Wiz. With junior, intermediate and senior companies, DIWC is always searching for productions that will allow a large number of actors to be involved.
The Wiz fit the bill perfectly. “The great thing about a show like The Wiz is that there’s tons of characters,” said Ursan. “Because we have so many young people who are incredibly talented, it’s getting more and more difficult to find shows to let everybody have a moment (in the spotlight). The projects that we have this year, all of the shows were pretty diverse and it really was about trying to give as many of these young people an opportunity over the season to show off as we possibly could.”
And part of allowing the actors to strut their stuff is by placing them in a wide variety of productions. For example, this season included Heathers, a darker drama, and Free to Be You and Me, a show about children finding self-confidence and believing in themselves.
“We have done some pretty bizarre and challenging things with Do it With Class, like very adult material from Threepenny Opera,” said Ursan. “One of the remarkable things about these kids are they aren’t scared off easily (when it comes to challenging material). It’s almost like, ‘Well, Rob thinks this is possible so we’re going to accomplish this.’ Just the ability for the kids to be able to say that to themselves, it’s really special.”
The only thing missing from this production is a live band and Ursan has a simple reason for that.
“We don’t have space for it,” he said with a laugh. “Trying to fit a band onstage for this one would be really tough.
“We’re doing a lot of back projections for set things and special effects, and because of that, the stage is cut down by a third. I just ended up recording an orchestration for the show and that’s what we’re using.”