Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Florida - West Coast

The Wiz
American Stage in the Park


Torrey Thomas, Chris Walker, Whitney Drake and Sara DelBeato
It's that time of the year again, and American Stage is presenting The Wiz, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, book by William F. Brown, at Demons Landing. The authors did an amazing job retelling the story of The Wizard of Oz with R&B infused music. The score contains many memorable songs, including "Everybody Rejoice," "Home," and everyone's favorite "Ease on Down the Road." The original production, directed by Geoffrey Holder, launched the careers of Stephanie Mills, Hinton Battle, André De Shields and, as a replacement Lion, Ken Page. I have been looking forward to re-acquainting myself with this musical.

American Stage and director Karla Hartley have been able to cast from strength, with a multi-racial cast. Almost all the principals are black except the Lion, who is cast across gender as well. The cast is led by Whitney Drake as Dorothy in a beautifully sung and acted performance. She has taken a leave from her regular duties performing on cruise ships to take a crack at this notable part. Several roles have been rolled into one; for example, Sharon E. Scott takes on Aunt Em, Evillene and Glinda. It makes for a showstopping performance as she gets to sing "The Feeling We Once Had" as Aunt Em, and a reprise as Glinda, and "No Bad News" as Evillene. She brings it off because Aunt Em and Glinda are similar (people have doubled characters in Kansas and Oz in almost every single version) and Evillene is so completely different. The doubling of Darryl Reuben Hall as Uncle Henry and later The Wiz is less successful. Torrey Thomas as Scarecrow makes a most auspicious debut at American Stage in the Park. He dances well and conveys that the character is not steady on his feet. Chris Walker does fine work as the Tin Man, showing great chemistry with Mr. Thomas. The choice to cast Sara DelBeato as the Lion is not one I would have made; the script clearly conveys a male lion and she is clearly a sassy lady lion. Aside from that, her performance is fine, she sings, dances and acts well, especially in her two act one numbers "Mean Ole Lion" and "Be a Lion." Allyson Tolbert is properly ditsy as Addaperle. The ensemble of Georgia Mallory Guy, Jesse Rodriguez, Cott Daniel, Allyson Tolbert, Tia Jemison and Rodner Salgado work tirelessly all night. Ah, youth.

The overall production has been designed to bring out the warmth and joyous nature of the piece. Costumes by Saidah Ben-Judah explode with color and whimsy. Notable is the hat for Evillene with sombrero fringe around the bottom. Scenic design by Scott Cooper utilizes the basic stage set up already in existence with lots of emerald green to remind us of where we are. One of the few set pieces, the head of The Great and Powerful Wiz of Oz, is stylishly done to reflect the updated period. The choreography by Domenic Bisesti needs more focus. A show originally directed by a dancer needs choreography that is more attuned to specific dramatic situations and characters. The band consisting of Michael Raabe on keyboards, Paul Stoddart on guitar, Joe Grady on bass, and Rushing on percussion is mostly quite good, but as I counted only three people and they seemed to lack the push a bass provides, I wonder if Mr. Grady was missing at the performance I saw.

I am glad that American Stage has chosen The Wiz this year, after a series of musicals that seem to turn up everywhere, all the time (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Rocky Horror Show and Rent were the last three years). Next year they have chosen In the Heights which, despite its success on Broadway, has not been showing up with as much frequency around the country.

American Stage Theater Company presents The Wiz through May 4, 2014, at Demons Landing in St. Petersburg. For more information, visit americanstage.org.

Cast (in order of appearance)
Aunt Em: Sharon E. Scott*
Uncle Henry: Darryl Reuben Hall*
Toto: Brian
Dorothy: Whitney Drake
Addaperle: Allyson Tolbert*
Scarecrow: Torrey Thomas
Tin Man: Chris Walker
Lion: Sara DelBeato*
The Wiz: Darryl Reuben Hall*
Evillene: Sharon E. Scott*
Glinda: Sharon E. Scott*
Ensemble: Georgia Mallory Guy*,Jesse Rodriguez*, Scott Daniel*,Allyson Tolbert*, Tia Jemison, Rodner Salgado
*=Member of Actor's Equity Association

Director: Karla Hartley*
Musical Direction: Michael Raabe
Choreography: Domenic Bisesti
Scenic Design: Scott Cooper#
Lighting Design: Mike Wood
Costume Design: Saidah Ben-Judah
Property design/Set Dressing: Jerid Fox
Sound Design Kyle Easley
Production Stage Manager: Garry Allan Breul*
#=a member of the United Scenic Artists Union


Photo: Roman Black

--William S. Oser