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In 1975, The Wiz—an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (and the classic 1939 movie)—opened on Broadway with an all-black cast and a score comprised of rock, gospel, and soul music. Directed by Geoffrey Holder, a New York actor, dancer and choreographer born in Trinidad, the original production of The Wiz starred 16-year-old singer Stephanie Mills as Dorothy, Mabel King as the Wicked Witch of the West, Dee Dee Bridgewater as the Good Witch of the South, and André De Shields as the Wiz. The song “Ease on Down the Road” became a classic. In 1978, The Wiz was also released as a movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy.

“The Wiz is traditionally considered an African American musical,” Wagner-Henry explains. “As we looked around the University, we realized if we were going to cast it traditionally from within the department, we probably didn’t have enough African American students to make up that size of a cast.” Because of its many high-energy musical and dance numbers, the cast can include 25 or more performers.

“At the same time,” Wagner-Henry continues, “because the University Theatre is open to the entire University community, the cast wouldn’t necessarily have to be made up of just theater and dance students.”

But there was another concern. Wagner- Henry—who is chair of a committee of faculty, staff, and student representatives called the Producers that programs upcoming seasons—was hearing that many non–African American theater students were worried that the directors might want an all-black cast, thus eliminating their opportunity to perform in a musical-theater production for another two years (the U theater stages a musical every other year).

So the department held a town hall type of forum for students, staff, and faculty, during which director Dominic Taylor discussed his ideas for The Wiz. He explained that his concept for the show was “a black girl going to an all white college”—a fish-out-of-water approach, in which a young woman navigates the unknown and makes new friends along the way, not unlike the original Oz story.

Taylor told the group he wanted a young African American woman for Dorothy. “Otherwise,” he says, “I was completely open. It was never possible that this production would have an all-black cast. Just spend five minutes at the University and you would know that’s impossible.”

Taylor’s casting, nonetheless, reflects the increasingly multicultural makeup of the student body, as well as a playful disregard for casting by gender. “They really wanted to mix it up,” says Nathan Shrake, who plays the Cowardly Lion, says of the directors. “They cast whoever they thought talent-wise was the best to make an unbelievable show. It’ll be fun and really interesting.”

Dorothy is played by Ivory Doublette, who performed in High School Musical at the Children’s Theater last year with Shrake. “Ivory can really sing and she’s so willing to work hard,” says Shrake, who’s designing his own musical-theater major at the University. “She has so many songs that are awesome; I’ve loved rehearsing with her.” Shrake is also excited about Taylor’s casting of David Rue as the Scarecrow; a young woman, Lynn Suemitsu, as the Tin Man; another young woman, Sabrina Crews, as the Wiz; and Michael Zimmerman as Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Adding to the show’s allure is input from T. Mychael Rambo, a local singer and actor with Penumbra Theater, who is the show’s assistant director. Uri Sands, co-founder of the local dance troupe TU Dance, is choreographing the show’s dance numbers, including the “Tornado Ballet” that whisks Dorothy into another world.

Taylor’s other plans for the production include “hints of Africa” in the stage props at the beginning of the musical while Dorothy’s at home with Auntie Em (Tiana Hardy) that are blown away by the tornado. The munchkins will be Minnesota Gophers, who bestow books on Dorothy, the new student. The Tin Woman will be costumed as an old computer that lives in the land of forgotten office machines. The Scarecrow will be a sort of mad professor or “12-year graduate student,” Taylor says. And the Wiz is a provost.

As a genre, “the American musical is often constructed to make people forget their lives” as a form of escapist entertainment, Taylor says. His version will have a serious side. However, he continues, “I’m not going to beat people over the head with notions of identity. Still, I want people to be aware of how young black kids think about their culture. In this production, home is the notion of keeping your culture with you. That’s what gives Dorothy her power at the end of the piece.”

At the same time, the University Theatre is also experiencing this production of The Wiz as something of a watershed moment in its evolution toward greater sensitivity on issues such as race.

“As our theater community continues to grow and more people of color and more people with broader backgrounds in different styles and worlds of theater become part of it, we’re able to bring more diverse titles and projects to the table,” Wagner-Henry says. “Every season our offerings are changing. What we’re looking at today is much different than what we were looking at 10 years ago.”

The Wiz runs April 11 through 19 at the in the Stoll Thrust Theater at the Rarig Center, 330 21st Ave. S., on the West Bank of the Minneapolis campus. For tickets call 612-624-2345 or visit www.umn.edu/umato.

—Camille LeFevre