“The Wiz,” currently at The Bushnell, sizzles on every level. Hannah Beachler’s psychedelic sets and Daniel Brodie’s incredible video and projections are mind-blowing. Ryan J. O’Gara’s lighting bedazzles, and Sharen Davis’ costumes are bright, bold and sassy. This high tech opulence makes this half-century musical look like it was born yesterday.
When “The Wiz” opened on Broadway fifty years ago, it turned the Great White Way upside down with its smart update of a beloved film classic, easing down the road with a top-40 R&B fused into Broadway sound, a stunning look with Geoffrey Holder’s costumes and choreography bedazzling on every level, and some breakout performances by Stephanie Mills, Hinton Battle, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. A half century later, with today’s enhanced production technology available, a rethought book by Amber Ruffin, who made the soon Bushnell-bound Broadway hit Some Like it Hot so refreshed, “The Wiz” dazzles yet again.
