WHERE THE HEART IS
Todrick Hall tells his life story in ‘Straight Outta Oz’
Todrick Hall never saw himself in any of the characters he saw growing up; AfricanAmerican or gay. So the multi-hyphenate entertainer decided to make a push and create the content he wanted.
After blowing up with a huge following on YouTube, Hall has carefully crafted his rise in the entertainment industry.
Hall stepped onto the Broadway stage in “Memphis,” “The Color Purple” and most recently in “Kinky Boots.”
But it’s his own work in which he is traveling the country. And he will make a stop in the Duke City with his “Straight Outta Oz” show.
It features more than 20 original songs. “Oz” tells his life story from growing up in a small town in Texas to the Emerald City of Lights, “Oz Angeles.”
It’s obvious Hall is a fan of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
“As the story shows, all of us possess qualities of each of these characters,” he says. “Everyone has a home, whether that is the place you were born or where you are most comfortable. We all need courage, wisdom and love. That’s when I realized that this is all part of me and wrote the show.”
Hall has released an album and a more than hour-long video on YouTube, chock-full with elaborate costumes and production.
He wrote the entire performance in two weeks.
“I’m a person that’s very direct, and when I like something, I become obsessed with it,” he says. “In the two to three weeks writing ‘Straight
Outta Oz,’ I was writing three or four different songs every day. I would hear a song in my dream or while I was in the shower and immediately get out or wake up and start writing. I dive in head-first to make it happen. That’s how my process happens.”
Hall’s Albuquerque performance will be his first in the city, and he’s looking forward to making new friends.
“What’s great about this show is it gives me the opportunity to meet and see the people behind all the likes on social media,” he says. “People are still finding me, and I think it’s amazing as I build my brand. With ‘Oz,’ I’m telling my story via this music and letting everyone know how I came to be the person I am today.”
Moving forward, Hall wants to continue break barriers when it comes to his roles in theater or film.
A dream role would be Fiyero from the musical “Wicked.”
“Obviously, I love the story of the ‘Wizard of Oz,’” he says. “I would love to also be Willy Wonka. You know — characters that wouldn’t typically be played by an African-American man. I like to do things more out of the box.”