The latest feel-good musical / revival of a feel-good musical has arrived! Yay! The newest production from New York City Center‘s Encores! series, The Wiz is back and bubblier than ever.

You know the basic story of The Wizard of Oz: a tornado whisks our protagonist, Dorothy, away to the magical land of Oz, from where she must find her way back home. Now picture The Wizard of Oz with an all-black cast. Good. Now picture the cast singing R&B. And…tada! That’s pretty much the premise of The Wiz. Instead of singing about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, we hear about the Wiz. “Follow the yellow brick road” becomes “Ease on down the road.” And so on (If you’re curious, look up “ease on down the road” on YouTube — there’s a great audio track from the 1978 movie which includes a young Michael Jackson as the scarecrow!

It’s a fun adaptation. Although the libretto could use a 21st century update — it does get clunky at times, weighed down with jokes that were probably much funnier when the show first came out, almost 35 years ago — but there’s no mistaking that it makes for a good time. The songs are full of funk and are a joy to listen to, especially when performed by this all-star cast, which stars Ashanti as Dorothy and features such performers as LaChanze (The Color Purple, Once on this Island) as Aunt Em and Glinda and Orlando Jones as the Wiz himself. And you might even feel a tinge of emotion coming on during one of LaChanze’s gorgeous solos (I mean, come on. It’s LaChanze. How could you not love that voice?).

Unfortunately, though, a tinge of emotion is about as far as this production goes in terms of poignancy. Ashanti doesn’t really display a wide range of emotions other than “yay!” and “aw man!” This, in addition to the structure of the show itself — feel-good number after feel-good number after feel-good number after… — had me feeling, by the end, as if Dorothy had done nothing to deserve to go home. It felt like no sooner had the Wicked Witch of the West been introduced than Dorothy threw water on her. Done. Over. In the original Wizard of Oz, this is a moment of great triumph for the characters and the audience. In this production of The Wiz, however, I found myself thinking something more along the lines of, “Wow. That was stupidly easy. Why hasn’t anybody tried that already?”

This isn’t to say that the production isn’t enjoyable. It’s very entertaining; otherwise, however, it falls flat. But really, who needs poignancy when you’ve got entertainment? After all, you go to the theatre to be entertained — right?

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Check out an audio track from the 1978 movie– (includes a young Michael Jackson as the scarecrow!)