The yellow brick road for actor Alan Mingo, Jr. always seems to beckon him back to center stage.
He’s back as “The Wiz,” in a new generation remake of the Tony® Award- winning musical that took the theatre world by storm half a century ago.
“This is a groundbreaking twist on the original Wizard of Oz that changed the face of Broadway 50 years ago,” said Mingo in an interview with ENE this week.
Gone are the long, musical scenes as the latest, “hip,” version, repackages the iconic score with soul, gospel, rock, and replaces 70s funk with sounds for a new generation.
With direction by Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), choreography by JaQuel Knight (Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” Black Is King) and additional material by Tony-nominated and Emmy-nominated writer and TV host Amber Ruffin (The Amber Ruffin Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers), this dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop brings a whole new groove to easing on down the road to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts Jan. 13-25.
Reigning over the choreographed chaos is Mingo, himself a master of re-invention.
In fact, opening night in Costa Mesa will be somewhat of a homecoming for Mingo, whose career took off while he was studying for his master’s in fine arts at UC Irvine in the late 1990s.
At 14, he was part of a boy band that was flown out to L.A. as part of the “Putting on the Hits” television franchise. They found some success when producers discovered he could sing, but management ultimately took the money.
“Welcome to the entertainment business,” Mingo said his mom told him. He credits his single mom for encouraging him to learn to act and make groundbreaking moves that proved to be very wise as he found success.
He returned to Maryland, joined the high school drama club, and turned to acting.
Even in grade school, but especially in high school, Mingo’s singing talent caught the attention of his teachers. He tried sports but quickly learned his place was in front of a different audience.
“I knew I could sing, but I didn’t think I was ready to go to New York, so I went to UC Irvine for classical acting. I really loved musical theatre, but I really thought I was going to be a classical actor.”
While enrolled at UCI, Mingo said a fellow student “made me” listen to the music of “Rent”, then get into his car. They drove 45 minutes to L.A., where he stood in a long line to audition for a part in the then-upcoming musical “Rent.”
After a dozen callbacks, Mingo, somewhat surprisingly, got the part, and his career never looked back.
While on Broadway as Tom Collins in “Rent,” Mingo caught the eye of Luciano Pavarotti and his wife. They engaged him to take the musical to Italy, where Mingo said he had to “phonetically” learn to sing in Italian.
Mingo has appeared in Frazier and other TV series, but his success on the musical theatre stage brought him starring roles in Shrek, The Lion King, Kinky Boots, Disney’s Little Mermaid, and many others. In the three decades since his chance try-out for Rent, he has since become a leading Broadway star.
“If not for seeing the movie ‘The Wiz,” starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson as a five-year-old nearly five decades ago, he would not be standing on the stage today.
“My grandma took me to see the movie when I was five, and I think I’m in the performance business because of it,” said Mingo. “I saw people who looked like me, sang like me and that’s why I’m doing this and that’s why I’m sort of in the business today.”
“The original production of The Wiz—a groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz— opened on Broadway in 1975 and won seven Tony® Awards, including Best Musical and Best Choreography for George Faison. But that production seems dated today, and those involved with creating the 21st-century show wanted to bring it to a new era and create a performance that was timeless.
“The stage and sets have also been updated,” he said, “so there’s something about this musical, in particular, that everyone sort of has to tell you their story now,” said Mingo.
Moreover, he said the latest remake of “The Wiz” has a modern touch.
“Those who come will get to see our version, which was a big breakout hit in the 70s, but now we’ve sort of reimagined it,” said Mingo. “Because we have audiences from both the Broadway community and those who were introduced via film, we’ve sort of merged the two,” he added.
Nevertheless, Mingo said scenes and songs have been reimagined to accommodate shorter attention spans. “I wanted it to be receptive to a whole new audience,” said Mingo, “but I didn’t want to lose the heart of why people love it.”
“We also are very conscious of in this world of social media that we’re introducing it to a new audience,” he said, “that has a shorter attention span, so we made sure that we were moving things along without losing the heart of the musical.”
When Mingo first stepped into the role of the Wiz on Broadway, he faced an unusual challenge. The Wiz is not Dorothy. He’s not the Tin Man or the Scarecrow. He’s not even the villain. He’s truly a mystery…the man behind the curtain, the embodiment of American bravado and bluff, hope and hustle.
To play “The Wiz” well, some say, requires charisma without arrogance, warmth without sentimentality, and humor that never slips into caricature, and few people fit the bill, or playbill, if you will, than Alan Mingo, Jr.
The actor adds that he and his good friend Wayne Brady have shared this role, among others, and Mingo said he is an admirer of Brady’s portrayal of the “The Wiz.”
For Alan Mingo, Jr., however, returning to The Wiz on tour is not nostalgia. It’s evolution.
In addition to Mingo, “The Wiz” features the breathtaking choreography of JaQuel Knight, the man who at 19 perfected Beyoncé’s hand twist.
Knight is well known in the rap and R&B world, having also choreographed for singers like Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Britney Spears, Kelly Rowland, Nicole Scherzinger, and more.
“I dreamed as big as I could,” says Knight. “For me, it was about how do we keep the essence and energy [of the original production] and also bring JaQuel Knight to the table?”
“Knight’s kinetic choreography successfully makes the songs visually appealing on stage,” Broadway World said. “Yet most of all, this musical will certainly leave audiences feeling joyful and moved at the same time.”
And isn’t that what a great Broadway musical should do?
Mingo knows everything has changed. “When the original came out, the yellow brick road had a meaning. Dorothy represented the farmers. The Tin Man was the metals industry. The Cowardly Lion was the politician.
While the world has changed, he said “The Wiz” has now changed with it. Even so, at every stop, people pour their hearts out about what the show continues to mean to them. “I am finding out that people have a connection to the show that is deeper than I thought. I know now that I made the right decision to come on the road,” says Mingo.
The yellow brick road, of course.
Get tickets to “The Wiz” in Costa Mesa from January 13 – 25 at 600 Town Center Drive, Monday–Friday: 10am to 5pm, (714) 556-2787 or visit scfta.org.