HOUSTON — Oct. 13, 2016 – The Mustang Players and the Westfield High School Theatre Department will present the musical “The Wiz” at 7 p.m. Oct. 26–28 and Nov. 3–5 in the Westfield High School Performing Arts Center. General admission tickets are $15, with $10 presale tickets available through Friday, Oct. 21. District-issued Gold Cards, available for free to all Spring ISD residents age 62 and older, will also be accepted.

With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and a script by William F. Brown, “The Wiz” originally premiered in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1974, and moved to Broadway the following year, where it ultimately went on to win seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. The success of the Broadway production – with its blending of rock, gospel and soul music and introducing such memorable tunes as “Ease On Down the Road,” a song that spent time as a single on the Billboard popular charts – led to a 1978 film adaptation starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor, among others.

An updated retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the musical – which has been a mainstay for many years with school and community theater groups – also plays a role of its own in the history of American theater, being an important modern example of a large-scale all-black Broadway musical. Time Magazine called the original Broadway production “a carnival of fun,” a show that “grins from the soul, sizzles with vitality, and flaunts the gaudy hues of an exploding rainbow.”

Drama club sponsor Monet Salone invites everyone, young and old, to “Come out and support the Westfield High School Theatre Department and the Mustang Players!” and ease on down that famous Yellow Brick Road once more.

For additional information and to order tickets, visit the Westfield Theatre Company website.