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Leave it to the Coterie to take a Tony Award-winning musical and through the magic of their Lab for New Family Musicals, expertly adapt it for a younger, and often antsy, audience.  Director Jeff Church knows what kids like and along with William Brown, who wrote the original book, they carefully pared down Charlie Smalls’ music.  Thus, The Wiz has been revived and can now delight people, young and old, throughout the metro.

The Coterie’s adaptation has the same gritty urban appeal as the Broadway original.  Dorothy and her family run a gas station in Kansas, maybe KCK, and the automotive theme links all of the sets and costumes in clever and unexpected ways. The music in The Wiz is an amalgamation of gospel, disco, jazz and even some soft shoe. The cast, the largest the Coterie has seen in a while, was loaded with triple threats. Everyone was in top form for this production as they morphed characters, danced, and sang with soul. I was particularly impressed with the back-up vocals and sassy choreography.

Using actors to embody the Tornado and the Yellow Brick Road was an inspired idea. The Wind Dancers imaginatively recreated the tornado with their bodies.  Dressed in black, on a darkened set, they twisted and turned, lifting objects, including Dorothy, as she got caught up in the whirlwind.  I loved way the choreographer time-shifted the scene into slow motion at times like something out of the Matrix. The Yellow Brick Road was depicted by a trio of actors who used directional flashlights to help Dorothy find her way.  When they sang the hit, “Ease On Down the Road,” the road was easing too.

Each of the main characters was stellar.  Adult actress, Emily Shackelford played the teenaged Dorothy to perfection. Not a child and not quite a grown-up, she was wide eyed with pig tails. Her costume, designed by Brad Shaw who also played the Tin Man, emphasized her coltish legs which at times seemed to run away with her.  Her finale, “Home,” was so powerfully sung that it brought a tear to this reviewer who remembers listening to the soundtrack over and over.

Michael Jackson’s proverbial Scarecrow shoes fit Tosin Morohunfola perfectly. He gave his song, “I Was Born the Day Before Yesterday” a spiritual joy backed up by a trio of oil-can crows.  Brad Shaw was impressive as the loveable and sensitive Tin Man. In his number “Slide Some Oil to Me” he demonstrated his slinky flexibility and soft shoe. My 8-year-old seat partner loved the Cowardly Lion played by Christopher Barksdale.  Alternating between false fierceness and fashion fierceness, he brought out the giggles. There was also a tender vulnerability in his character that touched the heart.

Nedra Dixon played three completely different supporting characters, each of which could have had their own spin-off sitcom. Aunt Em opens the show with the lovely anthem, “The Feeling We Once Had.” As the super sassy gatekeeper, she flips attitude and tosses insults back and forth with the usually composed Tin Man. Her final incarnation was as the gleaming Glinda, who, in this production is the Good Witch of the South, complete with a sugah-coated draawwl. She comes in on the shoulders of the muscle-laden male dancers and tells Dorothy the secret of how to get back to Kansas.

Enjoli Gavin gave us two witches in one actress. She played the fashion challenged Addaperle, the good witch who gives Dorothy her silver slippers (more accurate to the original book) and the ego-maniacal Evillene, the bad witch who tries to destroy Dorothy and her friends.  Her song “Don’t Nobody Bring Me, No Bad News,” is a show stopper.
Among the best surprises in this production is the Wiz himself.  Damron Russel Armstrong’s character is a mix of Liberace, James Brown, Little Richard and middle-aged Elvis. I won’t give all of his secrets away.  Just go see the show.

The Coterie describes itself as “Live Theatre for All Ages,” and this particular production is targets the 9–90 age range.  Just a note, it was a little scary at first for one tearful audience member in the 2–4 age range but my eight-year-old loved it.

With attention spans in America dwindling, performances at the Coterie make sense for adult audiences who like things to get right to the point but still feel satisfying.  The Wiz brought back a lot of great childhood memories for me.  There isn’t a bad song in the entire show and this performance was packed with talent and imagination.  Kudos to the Coterie.

REVIEW:
Coterie Theatre
The WIZ
Runs through August 7^th.
Sunday, June 26 at 2:00 p.m.  (Reviewed)
First floor of the Crown Center Mall
2450 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-474-6552 or online at www.coterietheatre.org

Top Photo: Cast of the Coterie's (Photo by Ron Inman)

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.