THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603050095
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THEATER REVIEW
SOURCE: MONTAGUE GAMMON II
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
The infectious enthusiasm and sheer joy of performing that mark shows at the Norfolk Public Schools Performing Arts Repertory remain evident throughout their current production of ``The Wiz,'' as do the colorful designs and the energetic dancing that characterize this group's work.
This production does have a look and a sound a bit unlike other shows ``The Rep'' has staged recently. There is more focus on the familiar foursome who journey ``to see the wizard'' in this adaptation of the classic ``Wizard of Oz,'' and a little less emphasis on the whole ensemble, than one would expect from this troupe.
The dance numbers, for all their conspicuous strength, are less dominant than they were in the recent productions of ``Godspell'' or ``Bring in the Morning,'' for two examples. Fewer dancers are used and they serve a different purpose. For the most part the dancing establishes tone or effects transitions between scenes, rather than being featured for its own sake.
The music has a different character as well. The particular pop style used here will not be to everyone's taste, though it should certainly get plenty of cheers from those who value volume and strident emotional display in vocal solos.
The young talent at the heart of the Performing Arts Repertory remains much the same, though for this show it is augmented by the return of several alumni from the long-standing program.
Alumna Danielle Rice served as choreographer and is a strikingly effective lead dancer. Alumnus Derrick Williams plays the Lion, and Christina Gardner returns in the role of the wicked witch Evillene.
As with any production of this work, the show belongs first and foremost to Dorothy. Sandye Smith gives her character an adult look and the personality of a teenager well on the way to womanhood, rather than portraying a young girl who still lives in a world of toys and childish fantasies.
Just the opening notes of some of her solos show how true and rich her voice can be. Using a sound which can be as sweet as hers is in the first few bars of ``Home'' primarily to imitate TV ``song-stylists'' is a decision that can be called into question, though it might be consistent with the interpretation of the script that makes Oz the equivalent of current urban America.
Stacey Russell makes the Scarecrow a cheerful, traditionally floppy, and quite charming innocent abroad in a hostile world.
Derrick Williams gets acting honors for this show, not only for the truly impressive roar he and the sound engineers produce but for the relative depth of character he finds in the cowardly King of Beasts. His excuse for his bullying behavior, that he had a bad home life as the child of a single parent, is not only amusingly delivered but is one of the wittier moments in the script.
Deon Ridley has long been exceptional for his grace, power and clarity of expression as a show dancer who works into his performances strong overtones of ballet. For the part of the Tin Man he gets to turn his exceptional abilities to tap-dancing, to good effect.
Ridley also appears as a choral dancer in ``The Tornado Ballet.'' He, Rice, Diana Uransky, Angela Brown and the rest of a small chorus maintain the excellence expected of this troupe's dancing.
Brown is featured lead dancer for one number and acquits herself quite admirably. Uransky is in her fourth year with the Rep; this show marks her unquestionable maturation from being an acrobat who can dance to being a pure dancer whose abilities command respect and complete attention.
Evilene takes on a less threatening air than in the original story. Gardner gives her the amusing quality of a bossy, contentious grown-up who can only relate to children and teens by ordering them around.
Adaperle, the Good Witch who first meets Dorothy, has a hip, irreverent and engagingly cocky personality as Lisa Hillian plays her. Like all the performers under the direction of Connie Hindmarsh, she is as convincing and smooth a performer as most adults could hope to be.
The original Wizard of Oz story could be viewed as a youngster's recognition that she must gain emotional maturity by learning to think, to love and to establish her own unique individuality. That is, she will earn a brain, a heart and a store of courage.
Authors William F. Brown and Charles Smalls missed the opportunity to make their adaptation a parable of the African-American experience since Emancipation, following the trek from the agricultural to the urban cultures. In fact, the script doesn't have the substance or the style that gave the original its status as a classic of popular literature. How many tunes other than ``Ease on Down the Road'' have passed into wide popularity from ``The Wiz''?
The script does have its own worth. It is unquestionably entertaining for all ages. Flashes of literacy and word play, such as a reference to ``Romeo and Juliet'' in one passage and a pun on the ``magic tricks'' that Adaperle can do in another make it clear that this play aims high enough to merit the attention of grown-ups while it delights children. by CNB