Wicked
Wicked is musical that premiered on Broadway at the George Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003. It is touted as the untold story of the witches of Oz and is loosely based on the best selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. The musical features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. With musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento, Wicked is directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello.The original cast included Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Joel Grey as The Wizard. Business and popularity boomed due to very good word-of-mouth, and the box office was boosted when the show was nominated for ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show was considered the front-runner for the award, making it the show to beat. It subsequently lost that award along with the Tony Awards for best score and best book to another new musical of the season, Avenue Q. Menzel was named Best Actress in a Musical. The musical received two additional Tony awards—to Eugene Lee for scenic design and Susan Hilferty for costume design. The cast recording received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album in 2005.
Wicked earned back its entire initial investment by December 21, 2004. The show had a $14 million capitalization. In its first year it grossed more than $56 million. The show, which is open-ended, has been playing to capacity crowds for almost every recent performance and grosses more than a million dollars every week. In the week ending January 1, 2006, it was announced that Wicked had broken the record for the highest weekly box office gross in Broadway history, with $1,610,934; a record that was previously held by The Producers. The Broadway company of Wicked celebrated its 1000th performance on March 23, 2006.
The show began its first US national tour in early 2005 with extended runs in cities such as Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, and Boston. In late June of 2005, a permanent production of Wicked, separate from the national tour, opened at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre with an open-ended run, which many consider to be a harbinger of things to come for Chicago theatre. It was recently reported that a second sit-down production is slated to open in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre, making a total of four simultaneous productions of Wicked in the United States.
Internationally, another engagement opened in London on September 27, 2006. In addition, a condensed, 30-minute version of the show opened on July 12, 2006 at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. There are also plans for full productions in Japan and Germany, opening sometime in 2007. Future productions have been rumored for the Netherlands, Toronto and Australia.
In The News:
A man in a tiger suit, a Michael Jackson wannabe, an extra from Wicked, a JLS lookalike and a heavily pregnant woman ...
These wackly wannabes could only mean it's a brand new series of The X Factor, which starts this Saturday
Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:04:50 -0700
Spine-Tinglingly Wicked!
By Rachel Gain, August 17th 2008
WICKED!
By Paul brierley, November 28th 2006
The impressive machanical dragon hanging above the stage,that greets you into the theatre itself sets the scene for a fantastic adventure of wizardry!
The prodution itself is amazing to watch... if anything.. there was too much to watch which is why i need to go back as soon as possible to see it again!
Idina Menzal was fantastic... her stage presence is perfect to take on the leading role from her broadway performance as 'Elpheda' and her voice was truly amazing.
I left the theatre wanting to order my ticket for the following nights performance and i must have held my composure to burst into tears all the way back to the hotel before breaking down in the lift. The songs had a hidden meaning for me and the story was very clever in the way it showed how someones appearance or equality can be disriminated against when judged by the magority.
In the case of the Witch... the colour of her skin.
All in all, i have to say that this musical truly is WICKED!