Yorba Linda Spotlight Blog: Spotlight Preps to Take on the Powerhouse Tony Award-Winning Musical "The Wiz"

By: Andrea Fouts

YL Spotlight Executive Director

Once there was a girl named Dorothy who is blown by a tornado into munchkinland. While she is there she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin-man, and the Cowardly Lion. They all go off to see the Wizard of Oz, who turns out to be a phony, but nonetheless she starts to believe that she can make it home.

Sound familiar?

I thought so! But, in the YL Spotlight’s upcoming production of the Wiz, the story above will seem anything but familiar. The Wiz is based on the novel the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum but unlike the traditional production of the Wizard of Oz, the Wiz takes some crazy twists and turns. Along with a brand new score of more contemporary music, there is plenty of room for new interpretations of set, costumes and all other elements of design. (I must say, we have some very fun, crazy ideas in the works!)

Dawnn Lewis as Addapearle and Ashanti as Dorothy in the 2009 NYC production

As a child I remember watching the 1979 film version of The Wiz with Michael Jackson. And, what I remember the most is that it scared me to death!! The strange re-imagining of Oz featured a grungy, dirty abandoned city where trashcans came to life. I sat down recently to watch the film again in preparation for our auditions. I must say- it’s still a strange film! I enjoy the stage adaptation and score much more than I do the film. The Broadway production came away with 7 Tony’s including best musical. As I mentioned, on stage there’s tons of room for a more modern approach to the craziness of Oz!

Ashanti

as Dorothy, Joshua Henry as Tinman, and Christian Dante as Scarecrow protect their eyes from the Green glow of Oz in the 2009 NYC production

Not only that, the Wiz is the perfect summer show for YL Spotlight because it has such a huge cast of characters! We’re not looking at just Dorothy, Tinman, Scarecrow and Lion. Many, many more characters are a huge part of this show!

I love YL Spotlight during the summer season! The cast becomes so close and everyone is just a little more relaxed. Don’t miss out- Auditions Saturday, June 4^th 1-3pm!

See you there!

-Andrea Fouts

Artistic Director, YL Spotlight Theater