‘The Wiz’ Actor Continues Show’s Legacy

Alan Mingo, Jr. portrays The Wiz in Broadway in Chicago’s production of “The Wiz.” Photo provided by Broadway in Chicago.
Alan Mingo, Jr. portrays The Wiz in Broadway in Chicago’s production of “The Wiz.” Photo provided by Broadway in Chicago.

‘The Wiz’ Actor Continues Show’s Legacy

By Tia Carol Jones

Alan Mingo, Jr., started out as a singer and was even in a boy band performing in talent shows. He fell in love with acting. Seeing the movie version of The Wiz for his first time he saw people who looked like him and sang like him on the screen. He said having that kind of representation let him know that he could have a career in theatre.

He was a Michael Jackson fan and was familiar with Diana Ross. The Wiz was something that came on television and when it did, he would watch it. Now Mingo is portraying the Wiz in the Broadway in Chicago production of The Wiz, which will run from March 31st to April 5th at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, located at 24 W. Randolph St.

“The Wiz” is directed by Schele Williams, with choreographer JaQuel Knight , the book written by William F. Brown, and music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls. The Wiz won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1975. The film, starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell and Richard Pryor was released in 1978. In the production Dorothy Gale is caught in a snowstorm and transported to Oz.

Mingo went to University of Maryland and received a B.A. in theatre and an M.F.A. from the University of California in Irvine. Musical theatre and Broadway weren’t on his radar until a classmate encouraged him to go to an audition for “Rent.” He booked it and said it was how he fell into musical theatre and Broadway and he hasn’t left.

He said that musical theatre allows him to sing and act at the same time. Mingo said playing the Wiz in “The Wiz” is a little surreal for him. He said it is the musical that throughout his career has continued to come around.

Mingo’s first year in college; he was cast as the yellow brick road in “The Wiz.” He said in college, he learned the difference between the Broadway production of the musical and the movie. He did two other shows of “The Wiz” that were supposed to go to Broadway but didn’t. When he got the call for this production, he didn’t believe it was going to Broadway until it actually happened.

“Because I love the project so much is why I’m back on the road. I’m the only one from the Broadway show who decided to go on tour,” he said. He said he still wanted to be part of the production well after its Broadway run.

Mingo said that The Wiz has made such an impression on his life that he wants people to see him portraying the Wiz and say “Alan was my Wiz.” He said it has made such an impact on him, especially when it comes to how people speak about the production, it symbolizes a deeper connection.

He said that a lot of the script was changed. He said he knew all the lines and knew the music inside and out and on the first day of rehearsals, he was made aware of a new script. As a purist, he knew people were expecting to see the classic Wiz.

The director told him that she was making the Wiz for her teenage daughters. She wanted them to see the Wiz, not as a bully but as a flawed human who lies and doesn’t try to fix it. He had to find a way to play a new Wiz and still make him charming and lovable. He described his Wiz as Samuel L. Jackson meets Willy Wonka.

Mingo was Donkey in Shrek, Sebastian in The Little Mermaid and Simba in the Lion King. He said while those are all big family musicals, there is nothing like The Wiz. He said when people come backstage or to the stage door after a performance, they tell him how they are connected to the production, either through the movie or the play. That’s the kind of legacy that he wants to live on.

“Beyond the coming-of-age story and you always have what you need inside, I want the legacy to move on to who you are introducing the show to now,” he said.

For tickets to The Wiz, visit broadwayinchicago.com.

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