It's the classic tale of Dorothy Gale who gets blown across the plain, then drops a house on top of a louse and a wicked witch is slain. We learn the story when we are very small and, if you grew up when I did, the annual telecast of the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," with its magic transformation of black and white to color was amazing, and merited a red letter date on the calendar. Thus it is with "The Wiz," which opened at City Center on June 18 for a three-week run.

Encores! sets high expectations for this production of "The Wiz." The show first premiered in 1975 at the Majestic Theatre and raised the roof. There had been other Black musicals, but nothing like this. Capturing the feeling of urban power and pride and translating it to the vernacular of song, dance and style, this is a tour de force!

I sat nearly in the center of the theatre, top to bottom and side to side. I'm always amazed at what Encores! does in City Center with such an interestingly shaped space. The stage is shallower than you'd expect and the orchestra plays from above the performing area like a heavenly host. The scene design by David Korins and the costume design of Paul Tazewell meshed urban themes, in many cases, with chic style to yield a clever and contained gestalt. Charles G. LaPointe and Cookie Jordan likewise get sage nods for hair/wig design and make-up respectively. Take the Scarecrow, Christian Dante White, sporting what looked like a beaten version of the hats the live black crows are wearing, and a wig of blond corn rows (or that's what we used to call them when I went to Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale). His mismatched, colorfully patched outfit, with the straw here and there, and the subtle make-up effects, combined with his lithe physicality, in motion and dance, rendered a perfect characterization. Joshua Henry's Tin Man is gotten up in silver pants and what looked like a cross between a jeans jacket and a motorcycle jacket and, of course, taps on his shoes, once Dorothy had a chance to "Slide Some Oil to Me." And what he does with those taps!

Andy Blankenbuehler's choreography is viscerally joyful. Those of us who aren't dancers would think we could take flight from the sympathetic motion of our muscles and tapping feet. Blankenbuehler has captured each dancer's individual style and woven it into something more than the sum of the parts. During the Tornado Ballet, the dancers truly are forces of nature, as they whirl away the suggestions of scenery and don the laundry on the line to carry it off on the wind. Black-clad dancers fight with Dorothy, played by Ashanti, as she struggles against the wind to find Toto, her family, her breath. Ultimately, she lands in Oz where the Munchkins are overturned laundry baskets, each a different color of the rainbow, with a different array of clothing, moving around on wheeled contraptions. Dancers are dancers, with or without hardware, and the choreography, using these carts, is remarkable.

Dorothy picks up her Scarecrow, her Tin Man and then her cowardly Lion, portrayed by James Monroe Iglehart. Iglehart is a winning combination of gruff and scared, with a big bad exterior and the heart of gold lying deep within. Is the Lion cowardly, or just a bit more honest about when he's getting a bad feeling? I'll leave you to decide.

There are many updated references that help the show remain fresh. LaChanze is both a tender Auntie Em and a serene Glinda, who glows with an inner radiance of blue and silver light when she appears with her entourage of buff attendants. Dawnn Lewis plays Glinda's sister, Addaperle, who is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky charlatan in motley finery. Addaperle has secrets she holds for and from everyone, not maliciously, but she knows that sometimes we need to experience events to understand their meaning and importance. Dorothy had the key in her hands to go home, or rather those silver slippers on her feet. She needed to understand love and friendship, in the classic quest that heroes undergo, to find what was with them all the time.

John Eric Parker plays the dual role of the saturnine Uncle Henry and the towering, cowering Lord High Underling. There is a most dramatic revelation, when the Lord High Underling is released from his situation, and you need to see it to believe it. There are several witty bits of stagecraft, when characters seem to appear from nowhere, and black-clad dancers whirl the earthbound Winged Monkeys so they really seem to fly. Visual puns abound and, everywhere, there is something to dazzle the eye, as well as the ear, and the imagination.

Orlando Jones is The Wiz and hits every note correctly in this mixture of bravado, larceny and bling (oh my!) The most common situation, to those unfamiliar with it, can seem miraculous. The Wiz is the purveyor of those quick-thinking miracles. He is capable of weaving enchantments that will take even the cleverest a bit of time to unravel, and unravel him they do.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the evening is Tichina Arnold's Evillene. She is the arch-villain of the piece and is clad in sparkly Devil Red, rather than the customary green and black we associate with Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch. Arnold's subtle makeup highlights, along with her mobile and expressive face, show she takes absolute relish in being the most villainous villainess in the piece. She struts with Revivalist splendor, though when she finally gets her reward, we feel it is most just.

The stars are stars and the ensemble-consisting of Raymond Lamar Bennett, Tanya Birl (also the Dance Captain), Darlesia Cearcy, Asmeret, Ghebremichael, Angela Grovey, Ebony Haswell, Lauren Lim Jackson, Kevin-Anthony, Carl Lation, Jennifer Locke, Amy McClendon, Kenna Michelle Morris, John Eric Parker, Herman Payne, Ryan H. Rankine, Levensky Smith, Ephraim M. Sykes, Adrienne Warren, Daniel J. Watts, Juson Williams, and William B. Wingfield-are also stars. Whether as gleeful Munchkins, athletic Crows, moplike Kalidahs, super-sexy Poppies, Winged Monkeys, Quadlings, mock-urbane Emerald City habitués, or Glinda's sylphlike attendants, each one shines. "Brand New Day" is a treat for eyes, ears, heart, and mind, when the dancing, singing, and the pure release of energy build to a crescendo. That's the song that I whistled as I walked out of the theatre and toward the train. If there's a message that "The Wiz" left with me, it's that the change we want is within us all and we can make a Brand New Day for ourselves. This is truly wisdom for our times.

Tickets will be selling fast so as soon as you read this, make your plans and cancel anything that might conflict. This is just what you need just when you need it. "The Wiz" runs through July 5. Tickets are $25 to 110 and are available via telephone at 212/581-1212, online at www.nycitycenter.org, or at the box office on 55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. See City Center's web site or call for additional information. Don't miss this show!