© 1997 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
May 16, 1997, Friday



Off To Sell 'The Wizard'
If Ever a Lucrative Biz There Was,
The Show At The Garden is One Because...
Because of the Spectatuclar Marketing it Does
By Howard Kissel

THE WIZARD OF OZ. Adapted by John Kane from the film. Music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. With Roseanne, Ken Page, Lara Teeter, Michael Gruber, Jessica Grove, Gerry Vichi, Judith McCauley and others. Sets by Michael Anania. Costumes by Gregg Barnes. Directed and adapted by Robert Johanson. At the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

'THE WIZARD OF OZ' IS THE latest in a series of quasi-live entertainments for children that try as nearly as possible to replicate a popular film but whose essential purpose is to create new merchandising possibilities.

In this, Madison Square Garden's "Wizard" succeeds admirably.

Is it necessary, you might ask, to do a stage version of something available on video tape? Probably not. But since they're not going to present the actual film in a theater with a big screen which might give children the thrill their parents had a generation ago they might as well do this sort of approximation. I think of it as quasi-live because so much of it depends on mechanical effects.

The main draw here apart, of course, from the fabulous Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg score, is Roseanne as the Wicked Witch of the West. I wish I had secured the tea-with-honey-and-lemon concession for Madison Square Garden; I could have made a fortune selling it to Roseanne, whose trademark screeching is going to make sandpaper of her vocal cords.

Ultimately, she's not very scary. She presents herself and is received as a beloved TV star.

The best of the performers is Lara Teeter, who plays the Scarecrow. In James Rocco's choreography, Teeter might just as well be made of straw his movements are so extraordinarily elastic you can't imagine he's actually impeded by bones.

Ken Page makes a sweet, likeable Cowardly Lion, and Michael Gruber is a jaunty Tin Man. Gerry Vichi is fetching as the Wizard.

As Dorothy, Jessica Grove sings and dances well. She doesn't project a lot of personality, but inevitably a young performer is going to be swamped by the sheer grandiosity of such a production.

The show is full of wonderful effects. Michael Anania has done a beautiful job of designing the scenery, especially the moody gray backdrop for the initial scenes in Kansas and a haunting field of dancing poppies in Oz. There is plenty of thunder and lightning, and the stage is constantly filled with smoke and little brush fires to keep things moving when the dialogue flags.

Gregg Barnes' costumes are also lively, especially his luscious black outfits for Roseanne. The design is full of fascinating details, like the way the claws of the crows move or the way the Munchkins emerge from the floor when Dorothy and her house arrive in their land.

When I saw the movie, back in the Dark Ages before videos, before we even owned a television set, I was terrified by the scene where the witch threatens Dorothy. I screamed and probably mortified my poor father.

Watching this production, I realized my father got off easy. He had to cope only with the fears of an overly sensitive child. He did not have to run the gauntlet that contemporary parents do as they enter and leave the theater of teams of hawkers offering food, souvenirs, photo ops with Munchkins, you name it.

But merchandise is likely to be the most tangible thing people take away from this production, especially at a time when all an audience expects emotionally from a show is the chance to clap in rhythm with its familiar tunes.


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