You all know that I had my doubts about R&B princess Ashanti’s ability to fill the role of Dorothy in “The Wiz” revival currently playing as part of the Encore! series at City Center. Well the reviews are in and I think I’ll go for one of the cheap seats (because whatever is good about this show has little to do with Ashanti’s presence–oh my!)

First here’s a shocker, critics hated the original production too, according to The Financial Times. But there is no denying it was a hit with our folks. I was too excited to watch Stephanie Mills ease on down the road and ran that cast album into the ground. Plus Theresa Hines Merritt, the original Evillene was our neck of the woods…Queens. But I digress (and perhaps am giving my age too…).

Anyway, it seems that the guys who brought some of the flavor to “In The Heights” (Thomas Kail and Andy Blankenbuehler) couldn’t elevate Ashanti’s performance even though they tried to update the choreography and score a bit. She was described as  ”a pretty place holder, an empty vessel in a sparkly dress by one critic “and “having glacial comic timing” by another. Less than stellar reviews for a Broadway debut.

But it is the solid performances elsewhere that make me want to consider it anyway. Unfortunately Orlando Jones is not among them—apparently he’s not really a singer (but he’s in a musical, go figure.) Our girl Tichina Arnold (late of “Everybody Hates Chris”) returns to her Broadway roots as Evillene. Don’t forget this sister can saaang and her rendition of “No Bad News” got high marks from the New York Times. And if you’re up for a bit of nostalgia, check her out (with Tisha Campbell and another chick) as the singing Greek chorus in the film version of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Dawnn Lewis (who had all of five seconds of screen time in “Dreamgirls” and has been pretty much out of the picture since “Hanging With Mr. Cooper”) gets to do a bit more as Adderpearle, the Good Witch of the North.

But of course, it is a proven stage actress who gets the highest marks. La Chanze, the original Ceily in “The Color Purple” (who won a Tony for the role) does double-duty as Auntie Em and Glinda the Good Witch. Charles Isherwood says “she puts across her big opening number, “The Feeling We Once Had,” with soaring vocal richness and later brings similar poise and force to the musical’s climax.”

So what do you do with a production that has such weak links? The rumor is that ticket haven’t been going as quickly as the show’s producers had hoped. (I guess I wasn’t the only one who was concerned about Ashanti.) But perhaps they’ll be boosted by the kiddie crowd (after school ends) or if all else fails there’s the TKTS booth.

I do wonder, however, whether Broadway has learned a very expensive lesson or will they continue there own version of stunt casting in an effort to fill seats?

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