The Wiz

When Dorothy completes her journey in "The Wiz," Glinda the Good Witch tells her that she's had the power to return home from the very beginning. The witch could have told the little girl this earlier, because the child has faced quite some ordeals.

To the witch Dorothy replies, "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen."

In the Fiddlehead Theatre Company's production of this rock musical, Dorothy may as well be commenting on the pleasant weather they've been having. No one on stage seems to realize that first, she's delivering a punch line, even though there's a hell of a lot of punch behind it. If it weren't for centuries of suffering and slavery we wouldn't have the gospel, soul, blues, ragtime, rock-n-roll and (yes even the campy) disco music that lies at the heart of this show and our nation's musical identity.

Never a company to scale back or take on reasonable challenges, "The Wiz" is Fiddlehead's second production in a season of bold rock musicals, starting with Elton John and Tim Rice's "AIDA" and ending with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's New Testament rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar."

With this show, the company gives audiences the opportunity to see a rarely produced musical parody of L. Frank Baum's classic children's book "The Wizard of Oz." It's a tongue-in-cheek sendup not only of this legendary story and monumental movie musical, but also of a decade of excess (the 1970s) that marked the final hurrah for Motown. (Most people are familiar with this musical from its film adaptation starring such influential figures as Diana Ross, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor and Michael Jackson.)

Just as in the book and movie, a great storm whisks Dorothy (Quiana Holmes) off to the wonderful world of Oz. (The casting of this show owes a lot to the Berklee College of Music, which brought Holmes and a number of others in the ensemble into the area.) But in this version everything (including the yellow brick road) is set against a strangely urban and industrial backdrop. Dorothy has one goal: To get back home. But until she makes it there, she will encounter a motley group of new friends.

The Cowardly Lion as played by Damian Norfleet commands the stage with a strong presence and powerful singing. His diction is clear and his words can be understood (which is really one of the most important parts of performing on The Strand's stage.) And his make-up is evocative of "The Lion King" or "Cats."

Justin Raymond Reeves as the Tinman has silver make-up that highlights his strong jawline and masculine features. A cursed axe has made this dude cut of f all of his limbs one by one. Now a blacksmith has replaced the Tinman's entire body with pewter parts. But this metal man is missing a heart, and he desperately wants one so that he can improve his popularity with the ladies. (Unfortunately for him, Reeves' family-friendly interpretation of this rusty play lets us know that a heart is not the only organ he's missing.)

It's hard to look past Carl-Michael Ogle's makeup as the Scarecrow to see his performance. Though his face does, in fact, look it is made of a cloth sack, the hard, black lines around his eyes and on his nose makes him look horrifying, like a skull or a "Scream" mask that has melted and become asymmetrical.

Dorothy also meets some women, though they all happen to be witches. Shana Dirik as Addaperle is delightfully goofy and absent-minded. She has such sharp timing and a command of her audience that we never wonder why she's a honky. Shuga Henry sings the socks off "Don't Nobody Bring Me 'No Bad News'" as Evillene, and she also plays Glinda the Good Witch.

Terrel Foster-James steals the show as The Gatekeeper and The Wiz. This is one actor who realizes the history and the heritage of his character, the dialect he's speaking and the music he's singing. His sermons to Dorothy and the people of Oz have the rhythm and fire of a Baptist revival.

To say this script is dated is an understatement, which makes you question why director Stacey Stephens would choose to separate it from the '70s. Staging a production of this show where few people in the cast seem to have any idea of how to speak in jive talk is as foolish as trying to do Shakespeare with actors who have never heard of iambic pentameter. There's a rhythm and music to the dialogue that the director couldn't care less about. No one onstage is consistent. Stephens uses production design, rather than an actual uniformity of acting style, to attempt to glue together this production.

The director, who also designed the costumes, has created some outfits that are quite marvelous to look at, but the show has no bite. The 1970s was filled with a lot of politically incorrect humor penned by passionately sardonic, civil rights revolutionaries. Today, it's hard to make those sentiments fly; we like to think we've moved past that. The book and music of "The Wiz" are saturated in camp and satire, and it's a black comedy in the same sense as "The Jeffersons."

But Stephens gives us a production that is either ignorant or whitewashed of this humor.

"The Wiz" run through February 22 at the historic Strand Theatre (543 Columbia Road, Dorchester, MA. For more information and tickets visit www.fiddleheadtheatre.com or call 617-229-6494.