Wiz Performance - Direct Encounter / Art PDF

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The Wiz Performance Summary...

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Ashley Slanec Solomon/Sparks ART 1480 PM 21 April 2017 The Wiz Performance I’m not exactly sure how many times I have watched the classic movie, or read the classic novel known as The Wizard of Oz, but I know that if I was keeping track it would be a pretty hefty number. Therefore, you could say that I was decently familiar with the story and characters prior to hearing about The Wiz. Oddly enough, before attending this performance, I knew absolutely nothing about the background or history of the story or anything about characters in The Wiz. Honestly I have never really heard of it other than my prior knowledge of the original story. Well that all changed after I watched this amazing musical and I instantly fell in love. I wish I could watch it over and over again. Ever since we watched Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Tinman perform a part of the musical in class for us, my anticipation and excitement for the show grew every day. When I arrived at the theatre, I immediately sat down in the front row. I haven’t attended many plays or shows so I wanted to have the best experience as possible. And that I did. Starting instantly from the beginning of the performance, I was taken away by how well the dancers and their costumes tied in with the scene as well as the song being sung. Specifically in the scene when the storm was occurring and the dancer’s costumes incorporated the same fabric as what the storm was made out of. Another thing I enjoyed in this scene was the dancing. Sitting on the end seat in the very front row really made me feel like I was in the storm with Dorothy. Further into the show when they first performed the song

about the Yellow Brick Road, I was impressed with how well everything harmonized each other. The costumes with their yellow brick shirts and construction hats fit perfectly with the dance moves. On top of that, I especially liked how each time it was performed, there were more dancers incorporated. The next thing I found very creative and entertaining was the use of props, language, dancing and many others, to fit in with our current society and make it so that most people could relate as well as understand it better. When the Scarecrow continued to call Dorothy “lil mama” I thought that was awesome. Another modernized scene that stood out to me was when the flying monkey entered on a skateboard. I definitely wasn’t expecting that, and the fact he performed a few tricks as well made it even better. Since one of the big topics in our world today has to deal with the LGBTQ community, I thought that the way they incorporated males into two main female roles was amazing. I have never seen anything like that before and I don’t know why because they did a fantastic job. Sitting in the front row and being on the end seat was such an exciting experience for me. By talking to a few of the performers during one of our classes prior the show and hearing them talk about how they interact with the audience and perform better when the audience responds back to them, really made me want to have that experience. I also wanted them to see how much fun I was having as well. There is one scene where I interacted with the Tin Man that was by far my favorite. It was right after Dorothy splashed water on the Witch, when all the Winkies were excited and screaming, Tin Man came up to me and asked me what was going on and why everyone was cheering. So I answered back and told him that Dorothy just killed the witch. He excitingly said “Thank you so much for letting me know”, then ran off to find

Dorothy. I couldn’t imagine sitting in the middle or at the top of the stairs watching this because in the front, I honestly felt like I was right there with them though the entire performance. After attending this performance, my outlook and views on theatre and musicals completely changed. I was never interested or impressed by them, or the ones that I have seen, but now I am looking forward to when I can attend another one. I was also never the one to sit directly in the front row, I would always sit a few rows up from the front, but now I don’t think I’m going to want anything but the very front row....