Salma Hayek is going somewhere over the rainbow for her next project. The actress is producing a new ABC miniseries based on the Oz-inspired book “Wicked.” Wicked, the novel and hit musical, is not getting turned into a movie. Instead it’s going to get its own miniseries from Salma Hayek.

Salma Hayek getting Wicked on ABC

TVLine reports that the eight-hour film — which tells the sympathetic backstory of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West — will differ from the hit Broadway musical in that there won’t be any singing.

In addition, the storyline is expected follow Gregory Maguire’s book more closely. Expect the miniseries to be less of a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” and more of a parallel story, says TVLine.

While Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith originated the roles of Elphaba and Galinda (Glinda the Good Witch) in the “Wicked” stage musical, the cast for the ABC project has not yet been announced.

Wicked Musical has claimed the title of top event for the fourth week in a row, according to TicketNews’ exclusive events rankings for the week ending Sunday, January 9. With a power scored of 5.07, “Wicked” dominated the week’s rankings, with its closest competitor, Taylor Swift, coming in with a power score of 2.44.

“Wicked” also led the Top Broadway and Top Theater rankings for the week, power scoring a 26.23 and a 25.02, respectively. Joining “Wicked” in the Broadway rankings was “Jersey Boys” at two (12.40), “Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark” at three (8.97), and Al Pacino’s limited run of “The Merchant of Venice” at four (8.34). Disney On Ice: Princess Wishes made it into the Broadway rankings at number five (4.41), with “Billy Elliot” and “Lion King” in at numbers seven (2.68) and eight (2.57). The Metropolitan Opera’s “La Traviata” finished the week at nine (2.29), followed by a rare top ten appearance from “American Idiot” at ten (2.26).

TicketNews Exclusive Rankings and Power Scores are based on ticket sales from the TicketNetwork ExchangeTM, the world’s largest secondary market exchange.

It is being reported that ABC and actress/producer Salma Hayek are joining forces to develop a miniseries based on Gregory Maguire’s novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was also the source material for the international hit musical of the same name. Not sure how exactly do they make a two and a half hour musical into an eight hour mini series. The mini series will be an adaptation of the book, which would be much more political and darker than the musical. And it’s song and dance free.

The movie is still in the works over at Universal, but I am sure it will be ahile before we see that.

Producers are ABC Studios and Ventanarosa Productions, which is run by Hayek and her production partner Jose Tamez. Erik Jendresen of Band of Brothers will be in charge of writing the script. Whether Hayek will also appear in the miniseries, which will be based on the Maguire novel rather than the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical, has yet to be announced.

Anne Brummel will take over the role of Elphaba in the second North American tour of the hit musical, Wicked, beginning with the Wednesday, January 26 performance in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Anne Brummel in Wicked

Anne Brummel has spent the past year as the Elphaba standby on the tour. She has also toured the U.S. and Canada with Cats, Scarlet Pimpernel, Funny Girl and Evita.

She joins a cast that includes Natalie Daradich as Glinda, Marilyn Caskey as Madame Morrible and Tom McGowan as The Wizard. The company also features Zach Hanna (Boq), Michelle London (Nessarose), Martin Moran (Dr. Dillamond), David Nathan Perlow (Fiyero) and Christine Dwyer (Standby for Elphaba) with Kerry Blanchard, Michael Drolet, Jeremy Duvall, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Samantha Farrow, KC Fredericks, Todd Hanebrink, Laurel Harris, Lauren Haughton, Courtney Iventosch, Ryan Jackson, Lauren Linville, Lesley McKinnell, Robert Pendilla, Rachel Potter, Casey Quinn, Don Richard, Tory Ross, Billy Harrigan Tighe, Daniel Torres, Erin Wilson, Justin Wirick and Lindsay Wood.

Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, Wicked features a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento.

Wicked is currently performing on tour in Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago-IL and Centennial Hall, Tucson-AZ.

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