“The Wiz” celebrated its return to Broadway on Wednesday night, but where was Toto?
One of the most notable changes in the new revival, a re-imagining of “The Wizard of Oz” with a Black cast, is that Dorothy is older — and without her little dog, too.
“What happens if we age Dorothy up a little bit? Then, we can raise the stakes,” director Schele Williams told Variety on Wednesday’s opening night of “The Wiz,” where notable figures like Hillary Clinton, Anna Wintour, Tamron Hall, Common, Ben Platt, Noah Galvin and Sherri Shepherd were in attendance.
Williams believed that Dorothy would be pushed out of her comfort zone without her iconic pup Toto by her side.
“When we think of a dog, [we] think about a companion — someone that allows you to feel safe,” says WIlliams. “I just wanted it to be more dangerous. I wanted her to have nothing and have to seek out friendships.”
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This version of “The Wiz” features Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy, Wayne Brady as The Wiz, Deborah Cox as Glinda, Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em, Evillene, Kyle Ramar Freeman as Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as Tin Man and Avery Wilson as Scarecrow. “The Wiz” has been revived many times since it opened on Broadway in 1974 and became a 1978 movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man and Theodore Ross Roberts as the Lion.
More recent shows, like “Hell’s Kitchen,” a musical based on Alicia Keys’ discography, and “A Strange Loop,” billed as a “big, Black and queer-ass Great American Musical for all,” have helped diversify the production and audiences of Broadway, which is historically mostly white. The cast of “The Wiz” hopes to continue broadening the scope of theatergoers.
Wilson wants “future generations to see this production [and] say, ‘Oh, I can do that too.'”
“That’s something I’ve always wanted to do — just inspire people to do it,” Wilson says. “No matter who you are, where you come from, or how much money you have… just go for it because you never know what can happen.”
Producer Brian Moreland adds, “When there’s representation on the stage, you get representation from your community. And then all of a sudden, that audience looks like the community in the world, which is multicultural and beautiful.”
