KANSAS CITY SHOWTIMES
Tuesday, July 8: 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 9: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 10: 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 11: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 12: 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 13: 1 p.m. Sunday, July 13: 6:30 p.m. THE WIZ TOUR DATES
Jul 15-20 Fort Worth, TX Bass Hall
Jul 22-27 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre Jul 29-Aug 3 Louisville, KY The Kentucky Center Aug 5-10 Durham, NC DPAC Aug 12-24 Boston, MA Boston Opera House Sep 9-21 Dallas, TX Music Hall at Fair Park Sep 23-28 Nashville, TN Tennessee Performing Arts Center Sep 30-Oct 5 Orlando, FL Dr. Phillips Center Oct 7-12 Miami, FL Arsht Center Oct 14-19 Tampa, FL Straz Center Oct 21-26 West Palm Beach, FL Kravis Center Oct 28-Nov 2 Greensboro, NC Tanger Center Nov 4-9 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall Nov 11-16 Dayton, OH Schuster Center Nov 18-23 Omaha, NE Orpheum Theater Nov 25-Dec 7 St. Louis, MO Fabulous Fox Theatre Dec 9-14 East Lansing Wharton Center Dec 16-21 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre Jan 6-11, 2026 Tucson, AZ Centennial Hall Jan 13-25, 2026 Costa Mesa, CA Segerstrom Center Jan 27-Feb 1, 2026 San Jose CA Center for the Performing Arts Feb 3-8, 2026 Portland, OR Keller Auditorium Feb 10-15, 2026 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre Feb 18-22, 2026 El Paso, TX Plaza Theatre Mar 3-15, 2026 Cincinnati, OH Aronoff Center Mar 17-22, 2026 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Hall Mar 24-29, 2026 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Center Apr 7-12, 2026 Washington, DC National Theatre Apr 14-19, 2026 North Charleston, SC N. Charleston PAC Apr 21-26, 2026 Richmond, VA Altria Center Apr 28-May 3, 2026 Chattanooga, TN Soldiers & Sailors May 5-10, 2026 Tulsa, OK Tulsa Performing Arts Center May 12-17, 2026 Austin, TX Bass Concert Hall May 19-24, 2026 Oklahoma City, OK Civic Center Music Hall May 26-31, 2026 Toledo, OH Stranahan Theater Read More
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It’s the right time to ‘ease on down the road’!
With the success of last year’s “Wicked” film and its sequel on the way this November, ‘Wizard of Oz’ mania is back and strong, but fans shouldn’t have to wait a year to again scratch that itch.
Luckily for Kansas City audiences, another well-known and unique take on the mythos is refreshed and back in circulation. The Tony® Award-winning Best Musical, The Wiz returns to stages across America in an all-new tour, direct from Broadway, playing downtown at the Music Hall, now through the weekend.
This production got its start back in late 1974, with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown and would move to Broadway early the following year.
It won a total of seven Tonys, and with its soul, gospel, rock and funk soundtrack and all-black cast, became a revelatory whole new groove of the original creation from the turn-of-the-century book series by author L. Frank Baum.
Of course, many are most familiar with the 1978 film version, which starred Diana Ross, a young Michael Jackson as the scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as the tin man, along with Lena Horne, Richard Pryor, and other names of the day. Quincy Jones supervised and produced the music, but the missteps may have been with a Joel Schumacher script and Sidney Lumet directing, resulting in mixed reviews at the time, but it’s become much more beloved and emerged as a cult favorite, over the years.
A December 2015 live television version was well-received and in the fall of 2023, this updated production, directed by Schele Williams with new material by Amber Ruffin (a comedian and writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers) opened in Baltimore and soon moved to Broadway the following Spring, featuring a cast that would include the likes of singer Deborah Cox, and comedian Wayne Brady as the wizard.
The story is so familiar, there’s no real need for any re-cap, and this version begins set in rural Kansas as well (though there was no strong mention of such for the KC crowd). A hopeful and emotive opening scene between young Dorothy (Dana Cimone) and an eye-opening Kyla Jade (who plays Aunt Em as well as Evillene) whose soaring vocals made her a finalist on The Voice, combined to make for a memorable beginning to the story.
“Ease on Down the Road” is the cornerstone signature song for the production and we hear parts of it often, as Dorothy recruits the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, to join her on her trip down the yellow brick road to Emerald City.
As with the 1978 film, the Scarecrow takes an active lead comedic role that is a linchpin to the entire narrative working, and actor Elijah Ahmad Lewis proves himself in fine voice, is as limber as needed during the dance routines, and stays humbly likable in a sometimes sublime performance.
Though the book was updated, the songs were kept to their mid-70s original versions; sounding often nostalgic, sometimes dated, and a reflection of that seminal funk/soul era. We wouldn’t have minded some more modern hip-hop beats and lyrics infused into the music as part of this yellow-brick refresh but understand the choice to keep the original classic music classic, as-is.
It should also be noted that costumed dancers represent certain inanimate objects (the winds of the tornado, poppies in a field, etc.) which leads to some nice expressive routines, and the first act would end with the group just arriving at the gates of Emerald City, in search of the mysterious wizard.
Following the intermission, Oz is revealed as a swanky green dance club and we meet The Wiz himself, played with a dapper confidence and swagger by Alan Mingo Jr. (best known as “Lola” from “Kinky Boots” and he also worked in the KC Rep company of A Christmas Story), only to later find he’s just an ordinary man.
Almost as if the cast were holding out during the first act (or maybe just building momentum), the second act absolutely crests with standout vocal performances from Jade as Evillene (on “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News”), Sheherazade as a sparkly Glinda (“Believe in Yourself”) and Cimone shows how her Dorothy can truly hold a note, on the closing “Home”.
A buoyant “Everybody Rejoice” was the centerpiece song of the second act (sung as part of a “free love” Age of Aquarius-like colorful dance number), and the tune reprises after the final bows, for a joyous send off to end the evening on a fun note.
Given a fresh coast of yellow-brick paint with some updated modern sensibilities while retaining its classic core, The Wiz returns like a brand-new day, to entertain on live stages once again.
The WIZ plays in Kansas City at The Music Hall through Sunday, July 13 with tickets available here: THE WIZ | PNC Broadway In Kansas City
(Tour photography by Jeffrey Daniel / Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)
john c ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ X / Twitter.com |
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