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Canberra Today 11°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

ADFA players stage ‘The Wiz’ this week

“THE WIZ” is a musical full of soul and the Australian Defence Force Academy‘s Performing Arts Company will stage the show  this week for three nights only.

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A lively African-American take on “The Wizard of Oz”, it’s an ambitious show for any Australian cast to undertake and readers will probably recall a young Michael Jackson and a much older Diana Ross in the film version of “The Wiz”.

With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and others and book by William F. Brown, it starts off in  familiar territory,  with Dorothy, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, and dog Toto, down on the farm in Kansas.

But after the tornado hits, it rapidly turns into a contemporary retelling of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s novel. As the main characters, Dorothy, Tin-man, Lion and Scarecrow and Toto  “Ease On Down the Road”,  as the song goes, we find that the Wicked Witch of the West is now Evillene, an enslaver of  people—the message is clear.

There are lots of silly songs like “I’m a Mean Ole Lion” and “Funky Monkey,” as well as some tinged with sadness, like “Soon As I Get Home”.

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Midshipmen and officer cadets in the ADFA Performing Arts Company hold a musical production annually to raise funds for local not-for-profit organisations and to foster the community’s interest in creative arts.  “The Wiz” sounds like the perfect show for this purpose.

We know ADFA is a hotbed of talent, not least in musicianship, and you can bet they’ll pull all the stops out to entertain their audiences.

And it’s all for a good cause. The Performing Arts Company requests a gold coin donation for the evening performances in support of Legacy, the not-for-profit organisation that provides services to Australian families suffering financially and socially after the incapacitation or death of a spouse or parent, during or after their defence force service.

“The Wiz,” Adams Auditorium at ADFA, 7pm, August 11–13, Bookings to eventbrite.com.au/e/adfa-production-of-the-wiz-tickets-26344930396.

The content is classified as PG and is recommended that viewing by persons under the age of 15 requires the guidance of parents and/or guardians.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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