A BEWITCHING WIZ

Director Schele Williams’s touring adaptation of The Wiz touches down in Boston like a technicolor cyclone and lifts its audience up with a storm of funk, gospel, and unapologetic Black joy. Amber Ruffin’s updated book recasts Dorothy (Dana Cimone) as a recently orphaned girl from an urban background who has come to Kansas to live with her Aunt Em (Kyla Jade). Dorothy has trouble fitting into the rural community, but after a twister carries her off to the land of Oz, she befriends the Scarecrow (Elijah Ahmad Lewis), the Tinman (D. Jerome), and the Lion (Cal Mitchell). The four of them happily “ease on down the road” to look for The Wiz (Alan Mingo, Jr.), a wizard they’ve been told can fulfill all their wishes.

Kyla Jade as Aunt Em and Dana Cimone as Dorothy

Cal Mitchell as The Lion, Dana Cimone as Dorothy,
D. Jerome as The Tinman, and Elijah Ahmad Lewis as The Scarecrow

Along the way they are threatened by the witch Evillene (Kyla Jade again) and aided by good witch Glinda (Sheherazade). The two witches are visual as well as vocal standouts: Evillene scorches the stage in a menacing black gown with a skirt of red and orange flames; Glinda is resplendent in festoons of gold-trimmed white ruffles and shimmering sequins. Both Jade and Sheherazade are making their tour debuts with this production. Jade’s growling rendition of the gospel-inflected “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News” and Sheherazade’s revelatory “Believe in Yourself” are vocal highlights of the show’s second act.

Kyla Jade as Evillene and the ensemble

Sheherazade as Glinda, Dana Cimone as Dorothy, and Amitria Fanae as Addaperle

Ruffin brings the show into the present moment, but the production stays true to its 1970s roots with psychedelic projections (Daniel Brodie), neon and day-glo costuming (Sharen Davis), and funk-inflected music (music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls; original book by William F. Brown). The bones of the story are unchanged. The Scarecrow wants some a brain; the Tinman wants a heart; and the Lion seeks courage. Dorothy only wants to get back home. The Wiz turns out not to be all he is said to be; Mingo, reprising his role from the Broadway production, offers a delightfully swaggering portrayal of the unabashed con artist.

Gregory Hamilton, Moriah Perry, and Kameren Whigham as The Tornado

The ensemble

The ensemble executes Choreographer JaQuel Knight‘s series of fabulous dance sequences, ranging from the representation of the tornado in swirling gray to the joyous tie-dye rendition of “Everybody Rejoice” (music and lyrics by Luther Vandross) a song that celebrates freedom rather than relief at the death of an evil witch. Hannah Beachler’s extraordinary sets, along with Brodie’s projections, deliver the magic moments the story requires—a blinding twister, a wicked witch who melts, and fields of intoxicating poppies.

Is there a political message here? It’s not overt, and yet the sight of dozens of brilliant Black performers bringing the work of Black artists to the stage to celebrate the power of the courage, love, and intelligence that lives in every human being is a message worth taking home, wherever that may be.

photos by Jeremy Daniel

The Wiz
national tour
Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre
ends on August 24, 2025
for tickets, visit Broadway in Boston
tour continues; for dates and cities, visit Wiz on Tour

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston