UPDATE: The producer or "The Wiz" told the Courier Journal that refunds would not be given. Read the latest here.

Dorothy forgot her lines, the Cowardly Lion looked more like a bear and the magical land of Oz was displayed on a laptop projector.

A subpar performance of "The Wiz" put on by a concert promotion agency this past weekend at the Brown Theatre has caused dozens of Louisville customers to call and demand refunds, according to an employee at the Kentucky Center For the Performing Arts.

"The Wiz" is an adaptation of the classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" starring an all-black cast.

Island Entertainment KC, of Kansas City, Missouri, put on two shows Dec. 1 at the Brown Theatre. Tickets cost between $35 to $65.

Several people were distraught over the performance and wanted their money back, an employee of the Kentucky Center told the Courier Journal. The person declined to give a name because the employee is not authorized to speak publicly.

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"The whole thing is weird," the employee said. "Some people didn't stay more than nine minutes through the show. There was a woman who was so distraught she walked out and spent the entire time talking to the ticket sales people as the show was going on."

Christian Adelberg, a spokesman for the Kentucky Center, declined to say how many calls for refunds the center received and deferred the question to Island Entertainment.

Island Entertainment KC said Thursday that the show's production is the responsibility of the producer and director, Lavarious Slaughter. He told the Courier Journal that refunds would not be given.

Slaughter said he regretted the performance's shortcomings but blamed the Brown Theatre's technical staff for contributing to the failures.

Helen Barnett, who spent $65 for seats, said she was a fan of "The Wiz" because of its all-black cast. But she described the show as "janky."

"It was terrible," Barnett said. "Dorothy was wearing a Walmart dress. They forgot their dialogues ... at one point Dorothy said she wanted to go back to Texas!" (In "The Wiz," Dorothy is from Harlem while Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" is from Kansas.)

The reviews prompted one of the actors, Kori Black, to speak out about the show in a Facebook Live post. She played the role of good witch of the north and told the Courier Journal that the negative comments have been overwhelming.

“The people who came to the three o’clock show, there was just a lot of issues,” Black said on Facebook. “The three o’clock show ended up being pretty much our dress rehearsal because we didn’t have enough time to do the show full-out at the venue before we performed it.”

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But it wasn't just the 3 p.m. show that had problems, attendees said.

Tasha McGhee, who went to the 7 p.m. show, said the actor playing the Cowardly Lion didn't have a tail or a mane on his costume. He was missing one of his paws and was wearing one black sock instead.

"He didn't look like a lion," McGhee said. "He looked like a dumb sasquatch!"

It went downhill from there. McGhee said there were several times the cast and crew set the wrong scene and needed to turn off the lights to reset it.

"It was really sloppy," Tasha McGhee said. "The backdrop was a projected image of a cornfield and a barn. But then laptop notifications kept popping up on screen. They were projecting it off of someone's computer."

When McGhee commented on Island Entertainment's Facebook page and left a negative review, she said she was blocked by the page.

Adelberg, the Kentucky Center spokesman, said the theater asks for three references from venues that previously hosted the proposed event. The ones for "The Wiz" by Island Entertainment KC all came back positive, he said.

This production of "The Wiz" was also performed at The Kansas City Music Hall, he said, but he declined to name other venues the Kentucky Center had contacted. A phone call to The Kansas City Music Hall's box office manager was not returned.

"As a positive patron experience is our top priority, we regret that some of the ticket buyers were not pleased with this rental client’s production," Adelberg said.

Adelberg said all ticket proceeds from "The Wiz" were kept by Island Entertainment KC. The Kentucky Center has been in touch with the Missouri group and is forwarding all the complaints it is receiving, he said.

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If you attended a show and want a refund, direct your request to the Kentucky Center Box Office, 502-584-7777, which will then be forwarded to Island Entertainment. As all revenue is Island Entertainment’s, it is their responsibility to handle those requests, Adelburg said.

Thomas Novelly: 502-582-4465; tnovelly@courierjournal.com.