The Broadway classic “The Wiz” is a soulful ’70s retelling of “The Wizard of Oz” in the context of black culture. This weekend, “The Wiz” gets a one-of-a-kind retelling of its own: a 60-minute spoof staged by two white Barnard students.

Liz Watson and Colette McIntyre, both BC ’12, wrote and are starring in the original Columbia University Performing Arts League (CUPAL) special project “Operation: Ease on Down the Road.” The two-woman musical comedy hopes to amuse, challenge, and not totally offend audiences for two free performances on Friday, March 25, in the Lerner Black Box Theatre.

“It’s a gag, in a way—two white girls doing ‘The Wiz,’” McIntyre said. “But we want to prove that you can be silly and lighthearted and still put on a great production, because something like this hasn’t been done at Columbia in a while.”

The co-writers and co-stars will be the first to admit that their conceit is a little inane and very much out there. Nonetheless, Watson and McIntyre think that a dose of outlandishness might be exactly what the extremely dedicated yet insular campus theater scene needs.

Big talent, small community
Proposing Watson and McIntyre’s oddball little show that could was, perhaps expectedly, an uphill battle.

“Ease on Down” started as a quirky idea two longtime friends riffed about, fresh off the set of another production, Columbia University Players’ “Black Comedy.” When they realized that they were equally serious about seeing the show become more than an inside joke, they searched for a producer and started filling out their CUPAL proposal.

“It was kind of hard to propose it because everyone in the theater community knew me and Colette,” Watson said. “When we came forward with the idea of the show, I think there was a little aspect of, ‘Uh-oh, these guys! This is going to be stupid and ridiculous!’”

Columbia’s theater scene can be intimidating even for those with no reputation to precede them. “People here are so serious about their love for their craft, so the same people are always doing it,” McIntyre said.

The team for “Ease on Down” really captures the smallness of Columbia’s theater crowd. It shares two key players with that campus comedy Goliath, the Varsity Show: Victoria Pollack, BC ’12, a 117th Varsity Show cast member and the choreographer of “Ease On Down,” and Solomon Hoffman, CC ’14, a 117th Varsity Show musical assistant and the production’s musical director.

“Varsity Show obviously has a special place in not just the Columbia theater community, but the Columbia community as a whole,” Hoffman said, adding that the creative vision for McIntyre and Watson’s show was enough to sell him on a commitment to their show on top of a notoriously large one to the Varsity Show.

Even though overlaps have meant that some cast and crew members have been sprinting between rehearsals, it was vital to the production’s staging, as most of the students working on “Ease on Down” joined after personal appeals.

Their producer, Will Hughes, CC ’13, who secured the show its Gatsby grant funding and CUPAL backing, was one such person. “Liz and Colette came to me with the idea, and I immediately decided to be a part of it. It’s such a funny, silly idea that I couldn’t wait to help make it a reality,” he said.

Director Victoria Ugarte, CC ’12, also answered their plea after having worked with both Watson and McIntyre in the past. They offered her a peculiar directorial challenge: How does a director lead a play that’s entirely the vision of her actors? As Ugarte said, “Directors normally have a say in everything from which play it is to the color tights an actress wears,” and that was much less so the case for “Ease on Down.”

Indeed, Watson and McIntyre knew how much they were asking of the team who signed on, but it was integral to the show’s execution.

“We needed people who got us and our sense of humor,” McIntyre said.

“And really trusted us,” Watson added.

Setting the stage
Columbia hasn’t had a shortage of student shows with humble beginnings. Last November’s “ReImagined,” for one, was put on by a handful of Columbia students at The Riverside Church without support from any campus organizations.

Nonetheless, more spontaneous, grassroots productions are the exception rather than the rule in Morningside, at least in recent years.

“I feel like when I came here, the opportunity for student-written comedy, unless you were in Chowdah or an improv group, was small,” Watson said. “We wanted to resurrect that spirit of, ‘I have an idea—why shouldn’t this be a CUPAL special project?’”

Hughes stressed how easy it is to apply for backing from CUPAL, CUArts, and the President and Provost’s Student Event Fund, and how organizations like CUPAL can help students outside organized groups do things like reserve space and apply for grants.

Coming from major comedic productions like the 116th Varsity Show and “XMAS! 5,” Hughes also emphasized the unique environment provided by nontraditional shows. He worked with Watson, McIntyre, and Ugarte to craft the script and experiment with unusual styles and forms, and that only brought them closer together. “It’s been such an intimate show, with things like rehearsals in predominately our suites and our alcohol rotation for writing meetings,” he said.

Nobody beats ‘the wiz’
Watson and McIntyre are not bashful about the natural affection they have for the “The Wiz” and its music.

“Genuinely, one of the reasons why we get along so well is that we both have a racially inappropriate but very deep and sincere love of funk music,” McIntyre, who DJs WKCR’s soul and funk show, said. The duo gleefully added that Watson’s ringtone is the soul classic “The Rubberband Man” by The Spinners.

Thus, the show took a shape that its ironic conceit may not make immediately apparent. “It’s not a cynical show,” Watson said. “We knew that it wouldn’t be fun to watch two people be sarcastic for an hour.”

At the same time, “Ease on Down” is a platform for its creators to call out the movie they have adored since childhood. “When you see the movie when you’re older and you have some understanding of race relations and political correctness, it is just so bad,” McIntyre said of the show’s efforts to be empowering.

“We’re really asking what it means for two white girls to be doing ‘The Wiz,’” McIntyre said. “Can you do that while still genuinely loving the musical and celebrating African-American culture?”

But for all their commentary on the racial status quo, their hopes are still quite true to the show’s jokey origins.

“I want people to think it’s funny,” McIntyre said.

Watson continued, “Yeah, ‘not a horrible disaster’ would be nice.”

"Operation: Ease on Down the Road" will be performed at Lerner Black Box Theatre at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Friday, March 25. Tickets are free at the TIC.