Engaging cast eases into 'Wiz'

In director Dominic Taylor's surprising and smartly reimagined production of "The Wiz," an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic, Oz is a college campus where Dorothy (Ivory Doublette) longs for home.

She meets others who are pining for things, as well, including the brain-seeking Scarecrow (David Rue), the courage-hungry Cowardly Lion (Nathan Shrake) and the lovelorn Tin One (played by female dancer Lynn Suemitsu).

"The Wiz" is Taylor's big Minnesota outing since being appointed an assistant professor in directing at the University of Minnesota and associate artistic director at Penumbra Theatre. (He directed a small show at Macalester College nearly two decades ago.) It is an impressive introduction, even as he packs the story with historical and academic references (for example, book covers have been patched into the Scarecrow's costumes).

The staging has some unclear blocking in places, but overall Taylor's vision is intelligent and well executed. "The Wiz" has a professional creative team, with Sanford Moore leading the finger-snapping music and Uri Sands handling the choreography (Sands' gorgeous rain dance is one of the show's highlights).

Taylor elicits commendable performances from the student actors.

Doublette, a beautiful singer who has been in "High Schol Musical" at the Children's Theatre, invests Dorothy with sweet yearning. She's so pleasantly engaging, you want to take her in.

And in his affecting falsetto, Shrake suggests more than a touch of Justin Timberlake. That was enough to make one theatergoer imagine what that star could do to introduce this show to a new generation.

And let us not forget the fearsome Sabrina Crews, who played the Wiz. Her voice was as spiky as her portrayal, which also suggested Bernadette Peters. And while Michael Zimmerman's wicked witch Evillene had a cruel edge, he also telegraphed this character's pain.

As I watched Zimmerman move with menacing power under his wig and makeup, I was reminded of the richness of the source material. The sense of how persecution and alienation can change a personality is at the heart of another Baum-inspired work -- "Wicked," which returns to Minneapolis in the fall.

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390