THE WIZ to Play Leeds & Birmingham this Summer; Cohen, Rowe, Straker et al. Lead Cast

The musical theater classic, The Wiz, the iconic African-American re-telling of The Wizard Of Oz made famous by Motown Productions' cult movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow and Richard Pryor as The Wiz, will be revived in a new production that will tour Birmingham and Leeds this summer. In Birmingham, the production will The New Alexandria Theatre from Friday, 10 Jun 2011 through Saturday 18 Jun 2011.  From there, the production will play Leeds at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from June 24 through July 16.

Set in modern day Birmingham; Dorothy, feisty, opinionated and full of attitude, explodes onto the stage in an extraordinary adventure taking her far from home and testing her to the limit. She encounters a scarecrow with no brains, a tinman with no heart and a lion without courage. Together they outwit the powerful witches, battle evil henchmen and escape "trippy poppies" on their journey towards the great Emerald City in hope of finding the enigmatic Wiz. But will the all powerful Wiz grant all their wishes and Dorothy's desire to go home?

The Wiz is an urban coming of age spectacular with fantastic soulful Motown classics like Ease On Down The Road, Everybody Rejoice, If You Believe and the beautiful show stopper Home. This musical promises to bring the audience to their feet and the house to its knees!

Featuring Midlands' X-Factor finalist Treyc Cohen as Dorothy alongside an extraordinary cast: Laurence Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe - (Tracy Beaker), Horace Oliver - (Five Guys Named Moe) Melanie La Barrie (RSC's Matilda), Wayne Robinson (Hairspray), Allyson Ava-Brown (Les Miserables) and Peter Straker recreating his role as The Wiz.

With a stellar supporting chorus of volunteers drawn from the most talented singers, dancers and actors in Birmingham, this is a show not be missed... reminding us every toe tapping, hand clapping second as we ‘ease on down the road' that there's no place like home.

For more information, click here and here. 

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