GEE, WIZ! THE GLITZ NEVER ENDS ON THIS ROAD TO OZ.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

He emerges, fully exposed, seated in a silver disco ball that functions as a de facto throne. He's dressed in a mint green suit and sports a blond pageboy wig.

We've just witnessed the first entrance of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and given that he's A) played by former ``In Loving Color'' stalwart David Alan Grier and B) amid a production that is otherwise circus-like, this Wiz's lack of pomp is rather startling.

This production of ``The Wiz'' -- premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse and with Broadway clearly in its sights -- scrimps on nothing else. Audiences figure to be talking about Robert Brill's through-the-audience, Hot-Wheels-track of a set design for quite some time. The talent is considerable. The kids should love it.

And Broadway or no Broadway, director Des McAnuff -- the Playhouse's outgoing artistic director -- has cooked up a honey of a swan song. Via hits -- both musical (``Jersey Boys,'' ``The Who's Tommy'') and not (``700 Sundays'') -- McAnuff has established a veritable artistic pipeline between the West Coast and New York. Here's very much hoping that with his departure (McAnuff in 2007 becomes one of three new artistic directors at Canada's Stratford Festival), the creative stream doesn't ease on down the road, too.

Spun off from L. Frank Baum by William F. Brown (bookwriter) and composer/lyricist Charlie Smalls, ``The Wiz'' is many things; a think piece is not one of them. Despite the rather lofty program musings of McAnuff, Brill et al., references to a homeward journey in post-9/11 America seem a bit highfalutin. Yes, there's some stuff of nightmares in ``The Wiz.'' Mostly, though, the event feels like a party.

A street party, at that. Before leaving Kansas, Toto is a sweatshirt-wearing wire-haired fox terrier who looks more than a little bit nervous. In Oz, Albert Blaise Cattafi -- on Heelys and sometimes given to breakdancing -- takes over to embody the pooch. It's Cattafi's Toto who leads the ease parade down the Yellow Brick Road (which isn't yellow) and then projects video of the other travelers onto video screens via a ``Toto cam'' located in his hat.

Yes, wonders emerge from every recess of Brill's configuration, with the audience getting to watch both from the front of the house and on the stage itself. Houses tumble, balloons ascend, circular scaffolding descends. Music director Ron Melrose has his orchestra elevated and split in center corners of the audience.

Forget about tiresome Kansas-set intros. Dorothy (Nikki M. James) plops down to flip channels on her TV, has a brief duet with a reproving Aunt Em (Valarie Pettiford, who is also Glinda) and -- wham! -- the cyclone takes her to Oz. In equally short order, she encounters the Scarecrow (Rashad Naylor), the Tinman (Michael Benjamin Washington) and the Lion (Tituss Burgess), and it's off to the Emerald City.

The production's overall impulse -- from updated lines to Paul Tazewell's costumes -- has been relentlessly contemporized from the musical's mid-1970s origins. Outside the poppy field, Dorothy and company are frisked by security officers.

The here-and-now slant occasionally seeps uncomfortably into the performances.

Those who remember -- or who can't forget -- Sidney Lumet's filmed version of ``The Wiz'' (1978) should recognize tunes like ``He's the Wizard,'' ``Mean Ol' Lion,'' ``No Bad News'' and the ubiquitous ``Ease on Down the Road.'' Smalls' score, its urban elements punched up via Melrose's arrangements, remains one of ``The Wiz's'' greatest strength.

McAnuff and his technical team's style of presentation is the other. With so much to drink in, ``The Wiz'' is a most ease-y experience.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

THE WIZ - Three and one half stars

Where: La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Nov. 26.

Tickets: $48 to $72. [phone] or visit www.lajollaplayhouse.com

In a nutshell: ``Wicked'' schmicked! Here's a truly fantastical journey back to Oz.

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Photo:

David Alan Grier is the wizard himself in ``The Wiz,'' a flashy, tricked-out update of the L. Frank Baum classic, on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse through Nov. 26.