Someone did The Wiz wrong, y’all.
The 1974 all-black musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz recently ran at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville, Ky., to unsatisfactory results. According to The Courier Journal, tickets for the Island Entertainment KC-produced show at the center’s Brown Theatre ranged from $35 to $65.
The vexed guests were “treated” to an assembly of flops shortly after the curtain rose.
The listed fails were as follows:
1. Dorothy forgot her lines.
2. The Cowardly Lion’s costume was trash, because he looked like a bear, instead.
3. The stage design included the magical land of Oz... on a laptop projector. Yes, specifically, a laptop projector.
“It was really sloppy,” said Tasha McGhee, who attended the 7 p.m. show on Thursday. “The backdrop was a projected image of a cornfield and a barn. But, then laptop notifications kept popping up on screen. They were projecting it off of someone’s computer.”
Wow. Bruh. Y’all. Y’ALL.
Imagine watching the gang ease on down the road and an iOS update keeps trying to get you to restart the computer.
“It was so bad,” said Darren Jeffers, who went to a Saturday show along with his wife and daughter. “I ain’t even going to lie, I fell asleep during it.”
This production of The Wiz can’t win, indeed. It was bad, real bad, Michael Jackson. Dozens of patrons hated the production so much, they demanded refunds, according to an unnamed Kentucky Center employee. More than 100 people reportedly wanted their coins returned for the fiasco.
“The whole thing is weird,” recalled the employee. “Some people didn’t stay more than nine minutes through the show. There was a woman who was so distraught she walked out and spent the entire time talking to the ticket sales people as the show was going on.”
Alas, the refunds would not come. Because it was too late.
“Had any patron requested a refund during or immediately after the performance, I would have been happy to accommodate and make an exception due to the admitted misfires,” show producer and director Lavarious Slaughter told The Courier in an update.
Oh, Lavarious.
The Root was informed of another attendee through the grapevine (heh) and subsequently reached out for comment. Necolle Banks of Louisville said she and her cousin went to the 3 p.m. show and suffered through the entire ordeal. “Carl Thomas was in the play. I think the show was horrible. Some of the characters forgot their lines,” she told The Root. Banks confirmed she also requested a refund since paying for such a horrible production was “pretty disappointing.”
Wait, Carl Thomas, you say?
Yes, that’s right. Carl “Emotional in the Summer Rain Whilst Wearing Spiffy Sweaters” Thomas. And also, Shirley Murdock.
Please excuse us as we lay down from exaggerated amusement.