Alhambra Theatre & Dining to Present THE WIZ, 3/23-4/24

When it opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in 1975, The Wiz was heralded as a groundbreaking theatrical event because it was a large-scale, big-budget musical featuring an all-African American cast. The Wiz laid the foundation for other African-American hits including Dreamgirls. Most recently, The Wiz Live! was featured on NBC in December of 2015, and beginning on March 23, The Wiz will ease on down to Jacksonville with its debut at the Alhambra Theatre & Dining featuring a big cast, big costumes and a big set. The show will run through April 24.

The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical featuring music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, and book by William F. Brown, is an urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of modernAfrican-American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre inBaltimore, Maryland and moved to the Majestic Theatre with a new cast on January 5, 1975.

The 1975 Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It also won five Drama Desk Awards. All together, it was nominated for 18 awards and won 12. With a broad appeal to all audiences, the musical has had successful revivals in New York, London, San Diego and the Netherlands, and a limited-run revival was presented by Encores! at New York City Center in June 2009. A big-budgetfilm adaptation of the same name was released in 1978 featuring Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor, and has since become a cult classic. A live television production of the stage show, The Wiz Live!, was broadcast on NBC on December 3, 2015 to a large national television audience.

"When we had the opportunity to do this show, we couldn't pass it up," said Alhambra Managing Partner, Craig Smith. "It has everything a great show should have: incredible music, fantastic dancing, great sets and costumes and a winning history. Everyone knows the Wizard of Oz story, and this is such a great retelling of that novel. Plus, the cast is amazingly talented and the menu Chef Roy put together is a great fit."

The Menu

Executive Chef DeJuan Roy changes the menu for each Alhambra show, matching the show's themes. For The Wiz, Chef Roy has prepared the following menu:

The first course features a choice between a pimento cheese plate with spicy pickles and butter crackers or fried green tomatoes with crumbled goat cheese, tomato, cilantro and smoked Datil pepper ranch dressing.

The second course features crispy snapper with coconut jasmine rice, field peas and fresh tomato salsa, or braised boneless beef short-ribs with southern-style potato salad and shaved Brussels sprouts, or spicy shrimp and grits with smoked sausage and sweet peas, or wild mushroom, artichoke and tomato faro with vegetable broth.

The third course features purple sweet potato pie with candied pecans and whipped cream or an "Emerald Green" Pistachio Cake.

Dates, Times & Pricing

The Wiz runs March 23, 2016 through April 24, 2016. Times are 8:00 PM for evening shows Tuesday through Sunday. Doors open at 6:00 PM and dinner starts at 6:30 PM. Matinees on Saturday are at 1:15 PM. Doors open at 11:00 AM and meal service starts at 11:15 AM. Sunday matinee is at 2:00. Doors open at noon and the meal service starts at 12:15 PM. Group sales are available. Tickets start at $35 for and range to $53. Ticket price includes dinner, show and parking. Call the box office at 904.641.1212 or at www.alhambrajax.com.

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