This past summer, actor Phillip Johnson Richardson found himself back home, again, living in Charlotte, North Carolina, and waiting tables at a small-town pizza joint.
Everyone treated him well at the pizzeria. Still, Richardson yearned to be on a stage somewhere. “I love my hometown,” he said, “but obviously that (job) was not what I wanted to do.”
Just a few months later, he landed the job of his dreams. Richardson won the role of Tinman in the high-profile, national touring production of the pre-Broadway revival of “The Wiz.” The 1975 Charlie Smalls-William F. Brown musical is an updated take on “The Wizard of Oz,” told through the lens of Black culture and an all-Black cast.
A scene from the national touring production of “The Wiz,” opening Jan. 9 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
(Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel)
Richardson, a 27-year-old graduate of Charlotte’s Northwest School of the Arts and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, already had sampled success. Soon after graduating from college in 2018, he landed in the Chicago cast of “Hamilton” as an ensemble member who occasionally played the title role.
Other acting gigs followed until the pandemic shut everything down. Richardson spent part of 2021 in Charlotte before leaving for New York, then driving cross-country with his dog for a show out west. An injury forced him to bow out of another production and return home in January.
“The Wiz” tour launched in September and arrives at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Tuesday for a six-day run. After runs in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the tour company will head to Manhattan, where it will open in previews on March 29 at the Marquis Theatre.
In a recent interview, Richardson spoke of his unorthodox audition, the anticipation of his Broadway debut and more.
“I’ve been very fortunate, very blessed to experience everything I’ve experienced,” Richardson said. “It’s been a crazy ride.”
Second ‘Wiz’ revival in San Diego
When ‘The Wiz’ opens in San Diego this week, it will be the second time a Broadway-bound revival of the show has played in town. Eighteen years ago, La Jolla Playhouse’s then-artistic director Des McAnuff directed a “reimagining” of the musical that ran Sept. 26 through Nov. 12, 2006. The production featured an all-star cast that included David Alan Grier as the Wiz; Nikki M. James as Dorothy; Titus Burgess as the Lion; Rashad Naylor as Scarecrow; and Michael Benjamin Washington as Tinman.
Although the La Jolla Playhouse production was produced with a future Broadway production in mind, the show never made it to New York.
Among the ensemble cast at La Jolla Playhouse in 2006 was this tour’s Wiz, Alan Mingo Jr. Interestingly, the Playhouse production had originally been scheduled to star Wayne Brady as the Wiz, but he withdrew due to other commitments. Now, 16 years after turning down the title role, Brady will replace Mingo as the Wiz when the show moves to Broadway in the spring.
A scene from the national touring production of “The Wiz,” opening Jan. 9 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
(Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel)
Meeting ‘The Wiz’
This isn’t Richardson’s first go-round with The Wiz.” He was an ensemble member in a middle school production of the show. It was his first musical.
And why not? “The Wiz” has long been a hit. After opening on Broadway in 1975 as the “super soul musical,” it won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show was later adapted into a movie whose all-star cast included Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as Scarecrow, Lena Horne as Glinda and Richard Pryor as the Wiz.
Growing up, Richardson and his mom would often watch the movie together. She also was the one who encouraged him to try out for the show in middle school.
When he got to high college, Richardson felt certain he wanted to be an actor. He was featured in the 2012 cast of the first high school production of “The Color Purple,” which inspired a documentary about the school’s show.
Kyle Ramar Freeman as Lion and Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy in the national touring production of “The Wiz,” opening Jan. 9 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
(Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel)
Not your typical theater audition
Auditioning for Broadway shows often involves a number of tryouts and — if you’re lucky — a series of callbacks.
Not for Richardson. Turns out he knew the director, a producer and the casting director of “The Wiz” from previous projects. Richardson asked if he could audition during final callbacks, since flights out of Charlotte were expensive and they knew what he could do. So that’s what happened.
He flew to New York and auditioned over a single weekend. He said he butchered the first tryout, singing in the morning after a late flight the night before. But the next day, during a dance audition where he also sang, he said he killed it.
Back in Charlotte a little over a week later, Richardson was in touch with Corey Mitchell, his high school teacher. He had retired from teaching and launched the Theater Gap Initiative, a college prep nonprofit that works to give more students of color an opportunity to succeed in theater.
Richardson was with Mitchell when he got the call that he booked “The Wiz.” He swore Mitchell to secrecy about the big news. “I never expected any of this to happen,” Richardson said.
He quickly bonded with others in the cast, especially the ones he spends the most time with on stage: Nichelle Lewis as Dorothy, Kyle Ramar Freeman as Lion and Avery Wilson as Scarecrow. Reviews of the production have singled out Richard’s performance as a standout, with one reviewer at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer describing hisi performance as a “curious yet intriguing mix of Bobby Darin and Usher.”
To Richardson, one of the most exciting aspects of performing in “The Wiz” is knowing he’s part of a resurgence of Black theater, especially in a musical he grew up watching.
“To come to the stage door and see a bunch of faces that look like me — a bunch of little kids who are staring at me like, ‘Oh, my God, you were on stage’ — I can’t really express how much it means to me, and how much it means that I get to be a part of this revival.”
Avery Wilson as Scarecrow in the national touring production of “The Wiz,” opening Jan. 9 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
(Courtesy of Jeremy Daniel)
Broadway breakthrough
Opening night for “The Wiz” on Broadway is April 17.
Richardson has performed in New York before, just not on Broadway. Last March, he was in the off Broadway production of the Jerry Herman musical “Dear World” at New York City Center. Among other projects, he briefly worked on the boxing movie, “Day of the Fight,” starring Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci and Michael Pitt.
Looking back, he said, “Hamilton” helped launch his career and opened doors for him. Being a lead in “The Wiz” elevates him even more.
He also hopes that all the attention from the theater increases opportunities for him in film and TV.
“I don’t want to call it my big break because I don’t want to put that much pressure on it,” Richardson said. “But this is like kind of a really big deal.”
‘The Wiz’
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 9 and 10; 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11; 8 p.m. Jan. 12 ; 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 13;1 and 6:30 p.m. Jan. 14
Where: San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown
Tickets: $44 and up
Online: broadwaysd.com
Bell writes for MediaNews Group.