The Wiz

At Performance Works until April 30

Tickets: 604-684-2787

ticketstonight.ca

Mrs. Robinson (in the recently reviewed The Graduate) is pushing 90, but Dorothy, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is 111 this year. Written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, the story of Dorothy and the tornado that blew her and her dog Toto out of a Kansas farmhouse into the imaginary Land of Oz is one of the best-known and best-loved stories in American popular culture. Now simply called The Wizard of Oz, Baum’s story has been adapted for stage, silent film, several different Broadway musicals and the classic 1939 MGM movie musical starring Judy Garland. It has been translated into more than 20 languages including Tamil and Serbo-Croatian.

Still skipping down the yellow brick road, Dorothy turned up again in 1975 in The Wiz, a Broadway musical spin-off with book by William F. Brown, music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. In 1978, The Wiz went celluloid and Dorothy was played by then 39-year-old Diana Ross and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow in an all-black production that was panned by critics and audiences alike.

Undaunted by all this history, Fighting Chance Productions’ Ryan Mooney skips down his own yellow brick road and offers his fresh, pop culture take on The Wiz. Imagine if you can, a Sarah Palin look-alike as Evilline, The Wicked Witch of the West. Performer Jenny Moase, in a tight-fitting little red suit and spike heels, looks remarkably like Palin with her signature glasses and upswept hairdo. Moase, spookily Palinesque, brings the house down with “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News” and a death scene to die for.

Jennifer Suratos plays both Aunt Em and, would you believe, Oprah Winfrey as the Wiz. The scene is set up as a talk show with hyped, Oprah-style introductions of Dorothy (Arielle Tuliao), Scarecrow (Lucas Blaney), Tin Man (Nick Fontaine) and Lion (Sean Parsons). Suratos is really in her groove when she sings, “Y’All Got It!”

Blaney, Fontaine and Parsons all hit their marks vocally and dramatically; Parsons plays the Cowardly Lion with a gay, heavily made-up Michael Jackson or Prince with flamboyancy that makes his performance a whole lot of fun.

Petite Tuliao is pigtailed Dorothy in cut-offs and, instead of magical silver shoes, magical red high top runners. She may be small but she packs a powerful voice while executing choreographer Dawn Ewen’s fancy footwork.

Other pop culture personalities are a Lady Gaga-style Addaperle (Brittany Scott) and a Glinda à la Beyonce (or possibly Celine Dion) played by Emily Canavan.

Fighting Chance Productions has a fighting chance of staying afloat because they operate on a shoestring; production values are minimal. The good news is that there’s no skimping on the band—Graham Clark, Daniel Fortin, Jane Milliken, Mark Richardson and Nico Rhodes—under the musical direction of Christopher King. They pump out a big sound that kept some of us hanging around after the curtain.

Performance Works is a small space for what is a large cast and ensemble of 20 singers and dancers. With everyone singing and dancing, the joint—otherwise know as the stage—was actually jumping; the boards were moving!

Small on slick, huge on heart—that’s Fighting Chance Productions and this show.

joled@telus.net