“That show was so Black,” my 8-year-old whispered after we saw “The Wiz” on Broadway.
He hadn’t made this observation last fall after seeing a performance of the show in Baltimore, during the national tour that preceded this revival.
So I was curious: What had changed, and why was this iteration more culturally resonant for him than even the 1978 movie starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson or NBC’s 2015 “The Wiz Live!” special that I’d screened for him.
I suspected my son was drawn to this version’s colloquial expressions (“All I got to do is stay Black and die,” Evillene tells Dorothy), choreography (ranging from Atlanta street dancing to South African amapiano) and its casting of Wayne Brady as the Wiz, who greets the Scarecrow and the Tinman with a dap.
(Brady will depart the production on June 12.)
Persons:
hadn’t, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Evillene, Dorothy, Wayne Brady, Brady
Organizations:
Broadway
Locations:
Baltimore, Atlanta