Broadway has a hit Laredo, as the musical “The Wiz” played at the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center Theater on July 16-19 to a packed house at the Laredo Community College. “The Wiz” is a modern interpretation with a new twist and turns to the classic book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum and is a musical adaptation by Charles Smalls and William F. Brow.
The Wiz, directed by Vernon Carroll, produced by Joe Arciniega, and under the musical direction Brendan Townsend, was a spectacular play that had the audience laughing and enjoying the night. The Jewel Tones opened up the play with some local lingo and stayed off to the side of the stage as reminisce a ’60 girls group with their shimmering outfits.
A classic a tale that everyone has grown up with, “The Whiz” tells the tale of a young Dorothy and all the adventures and characters that she meets along her way to reach Emerald City and find the Wizard. Mix in a scar face, Tony Montana acting wizard, a Rosie Perez sounding Addaperle, a quartet looking tin man and a spider looking Evillene make “The Wiz” a new classical that many generations will come to love. A musical masterpiece by the Emerald City Orchestra captivates the audience with the wonderful sounds of jazz, 70’s, pop, R&B mixed in with some gospel and upbeat theatrics make this musical a must see show. From the opening song “The Feeling We Once Had” sung by Lilly Austin, you knew you were in for a treat.
The Wiz has some outstanding performances by the major players, Cecila Victoria Zavala as Dorothy, Joseph Santos as the the Scarecrow, Alex Lopez as the Lion, and John Maxstadt as the Tin man. Stephanie Solis-Schnyder as Addaperle mixed in some Rosie Peres vocals to give a great performance. She did an excellent job of interpreting Addaperle with a Laredo twist. Arciniega pulled double duty as producer and the Wiz, in addition Veronica Ramirez gave memorable performances as the wicked witch of the West, Evilline. I was disappointed that the witch did not have some major stage time. She was introduced in the second act and was on for about five minutes before Dorothy killed her. Zavala had the audience captivated from the opening curtain until the closing curtain. Her vocal range mesmerized the audience and had them at the edge of their seat. Santos did an excellent job of playing the Scarecrow with his wit and his rubber like walk that brought laughter to the audience every time he fell to the floor. Lopez simply stole the show as the cowardly lion that could sing, dance, and act “cowardly” with lines like “tell her I am an endanger species so she won’t eat me” to make the audience bend over with laughter. He had your attention from the time he stepped on the stage and shimmered along with songs like “Mean Old Lion” or “Be A Lion,” until he took his curtain call. Maxstadt pulled his weight on the stage and was not to be out done on the vocal range. He sang “Slide Some Oil To Me” to open his act. Sergio Bernal who played the gatekeeper, one-liners gave the audience a quick laugh between Dorothy and her entourage getting into Emerald City.
The play was filled with some twists and turns but most importantly had the audience eating out of their hands. Everyone got their money’s worth and should make a point to go see plays produced by the Laredo Musical Theater International.