Oh YEY!!! Final casting has been announced for this summers New York City Center Encores Summer Stars Series (that's a mouthful) The Wiz!And right on the day I made my sister buy me tickets, they announced Ashanti as Dorothy. Now, Ashanti is cute and all, and I have nothing against her, but really?
But NOW, they've rounded out the cast and I'm glad I have my tickets now!
Orlando Jones (Men in Trees) will be The Wiz!
La Chanze (Tony Award winner for The Color Purple, Company) will be Glinda
Tichina Arnold (Everybody Hates Chris) will be Evilene
Seriously, I LOVE Tichina Arnold. She overmugs things JUST PERFECTLY on the now cancelled Everybody Hates Chris (a cute show that never got the respect it deserved). And I've always liked Orlando Jones.
And La CHANZE. Have you heard her "Another Hundred People" from the 90's revival of Company with Boyd Gaines? Seriously awesome!
I've actually never seen The Wiz or even heard the OBR. The only thing I know from it is "Ease on Down The Road" when they did it on So You Think You Can Dance but just from that, it's already in my head (yah, from way back then too! So, like, catchy!)
The In the Heights team of Thomas Kail and Andy Blankenbuehler (also 9 to 5) will direct and choreograph, respectively. Love Andy's stuff. LOVE.
This year, they have added $25 seats on the Orchestra level. No idea if they are good or not, but the box office person swore they weren't obstructed view tickets. So I figure it's better than Rear Mezz or Balcony in that ginormous place. But I'm sure they will sell out fast of those.
Vance at http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com
Tichina Arnold is a freaking genius! She was the only reason I stuck with Everybody Hates Chris for so long. And the character of Evilene gets one of the most amazing showstopping songs I've ever heard called "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News." Check out Mabel King's version from the 1978 film version--it's magnificent!
ReplyDeleteCareful with those $25 orchestra seats. Not sure exactly where they are, but the seats on the extreme right and left of the CC orchestra have poor sight lines. I sat far-right orchestra for On the Town, and missed much of the upstage dance. I guess that technically they're not obstructed view because you can see DSC perfectly fine.
ReplyDeleteJust got my Wiz ticket. Greatly looking forward to it.
Well, since I can't really afford the nice tickets yet, the alternative $25 aren't always that great either up in the rear Mezz (though I've never done Balc cause last time I bought there, they closed it and moved us all down to rear Mezz) so I figure I might as well be close rather than far and still get blocked.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warning though. I figure they've got to be $25 for a reason.
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