Louis B Hobson reviews The Wizard of One

Calgarian Neil James has reimagined The Wizard of Oz so that now it takes place in a senior citizens retirement home. Dorothy is now an aging gentleman whose son is marrying a gold digger, and they have put him in the home where she works. She intends to drug him and have him sign away his life savings and property. This certainly qualifies her as a witch.

Like the original Dorothy, the old man just wants to go home.  In his attempt to find the Man or Wizard, he meets a man with dementia, who is the Scarecrow, a woman with heart problems who is the Tin Man and finally the Cowardly Lion who is now a man obsessed with germs.

Watching James switch to become these characters is mind-boggling, especially since all four of them are travelling together most of the time. James makes them such endearing characters you want them to find The Man, and hope he will indeed help them.

There is the scene in which the wicked wife-to-be uses her broom as a weapon against our hero who has a walker to defend himself. The fight that ensues is hilarious because James has to wield both weapons.

The script for The Wizard of One is most ingenious, and James does hit most of the high points of the original work which elicits laughter of appreciation from the audience. The script is not just clever but insightful. It has a great deal to say about aging and friendship.