PHOTO | BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS

Tony-winning actor Cleavant Derricks plays the Wizard in “Wicked,” which plays at Ovens Auditorium through Oct. 3.

Cleavant Derricks traded in time with his classic car for Oz.

The Tony Award-winning actor (Best Featured Actor In A Musical for “Dreamgirls”) plays the Wizard in “Wicked,” which Blumenthal Performing Arts presents at Ovens Auditorium Sept. 8-Oct. 3.

Derricks joined the “Wicked” tour in 2019, then COVID-19 emptied theaters across the world. He spent the time away from the stage with his two loves: wife Portia and driving his 1973 V-12 Jaguar E-Type up and down the California coast. Rather than pursue virtual options, he took a break.

“I didn't do any [virtual acting],” Derricks said. “I just enjoyed my life. I just got in my classic car, my wife and I, and we just traveled up and down the coast and enjoyed life.”
Derricks has two passions: classic cars and bass guitars.

“That kind of rhymes, doesn’t it,” he said with a chuckle.

Derricks found the Jaguar on a Universal Studios lot while playing Rembrandt Brown on the TV show “Sliders.”

“They were going to blow it,” he said. “Ever since I was a little kid, I fell in love with the Jaguar E-Type. I've always loved that car. To me that’s the most beautiful car ever designed. I looked at it, and it had the original engine. It had the original interior. I went to the producer and said, ‘you can’t blow this car up.’”

Derricks said he would do whatever it took to have the car. Coming in to shoot the show on a Saturday was all it took.  

“Two days later, the car pulled up in front of my house on a truck, and I've had it ever since,” said Derricks, who has owned the car for over 20 years.

Historic role
Derricks’ journey took him to Rochester, New York, where he performed in Geva Theatre Center’s production of “Revival: The Resurrection of Son House.” When he returned home to California, his agent and manager had news. He was about to become the first Black actor to play the Wizard on the “Wicked” tour.

“I had auditioned for it maybe a year prior, and never thought anything else about it, because I was busy working,” Derricks said. “I came home, and my wife is sitting there smiling, and I’m like, ‘what’s up?’”

Derricks knew of the show. As he processed the news he said, “wow, that’s kind of interesting. They’re going to have an African American playing the Wizard. I knew Ben Vereen had done it on Broadway. I said, ‘wow. They’re stepping up. That’s pretty nice. I took it, and I love it.”

“Wicked” takes place in the Land of Oz long before Dorothy arrived from Kansas. It follows the unlikely friendship, of Elphaba, commonly known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch in the 1939 classic film.

“Every night, I get out there and I lose myself, and I become the Wizard,” Derricks said. “He is whimsical. He’s lovable. He’s serious. You don’t know how you’re going to take it until he plays with you, and you fall in love with him.”

The “Wicked” tour, which relaunched in August, will be the first large-scale production in Charlotte since 2020.

“The people who run this dynamic beast of a creature called ‘Wicked,’ they care,” Derricks said. “They care about everything that is being done with the show. They work hard to maintain it, as they should. There is something about that can-do spirit that all of them have that made sure to keep the fires burning and keep the company together whereby eventually it was going to come around again, and we were the first ones to step out.”

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