Ticket buyers are invited to an exclusive box office event at The Smith Center from 7 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 19 to be among the first to purchase Wicked tickets. As part of the on-sale celebration, Sunny 106.5 KSNE will be broadcasting live on location at The Smith Center from 7 to 9 a.m., followed by a live broadcast by 96.3 KKLZ from 9 to 11 a.m. Both stations will be entertaining guests with music, fun games, and drawings to win exclusive Wicked prizes. Additionally, the first 100 people in line to make a purchase at The Smith Center will receive a gift from Wicked.

Wicked at The Smith Center – Performance Schedule:
Wicked will play August 29 to October 7 in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center.
Tuesday to Friday – 7:30 PM
Saturday and Sunday – 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM

Wicked, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney’s Enchanted, Academy Award® winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”), is based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. Wicked is set to make its Las Vegas debut on August 29.

The musical is directed by two-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues) and features musical staging by Tony® Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…). Wicked, winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy® Award and 3 Tony® Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz. It is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

Wicked tour will continue playing at The Smith Center through October 7, 2012 and Tickets are now on sale online. Buy Wicked Las Vegas NV Tickets today, Get $10 OFF on Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout!

Adesewa Faleti: Tell me about your character Nessarose?

Catherine Charlebois: Nessarose is Elphaba’s younger sister who has been in a wheelchair all her life. She begins the show on her first day of school at Shiz University, hoping to start a new and exciting time in her life, not in the shadow of her sister.

Adesewa Faleti: How long have you been with show?

Catherine Charlebois: I have been with Wicked for two years in April.

Adesewa Faleti: What was the audition process like for this show?

Catherine Charlebois: I began with Wicked as a Universal Swing-my audition consisted of me singing a few songs of my own first, followed by a few pieces of songs from Wicked. After making it through that round, I danced some choreography from the show as well. I eventually added a Nessarose understudy to the tracks that I covered, and to become Nessarose every night, I had to perform a scene and a song from the show for some of our creative team.

Adesewa Faleti: How do you prepare for your role each night?

Catherine Charlebois: As performers, we have to do a lot to keep our bodies and voices healthy and strong to do eight shows a week. Specifically for Nessarose, I have to get my body and voice warmed up and take a few minutes to think about the journey she has to take in the show every night.

Adesewa Faleti: Why do you feel that Wicked is such a loved show?

Catherine Charlebois: I feel that the story is so universal to everyone. The music and the visuals of the show are beautiful, but everyone-male, female, older and younger-can connect to the story and the relationships that develop between the characters.

Adesewa Faleti: What is it like behind the scenes and in between acts?

Catherine Charlebois: It depends on the day! There is almost always excitement and sometimes nerves if someone new is going into the show or doing a new track, but there is always unbelievable support and teamwork between the whole cast and crew.

Adesewa Faleti: Doing the show almost daily, how do you make your performance fresh every night?

Catherine Charlebois: I really just focus on the story that we are trying to tell. I try to keep myself open and see what the other actors are doing on stage with me and react to that.

Adesewa Faleti: What are some of the comments and feedback that you get about the show?

Catherine Charlebois: Everyone loves it! Everyone seems to leave finding a character that they really relate to and follow their story, and I think that is totally unique to our show.

Adesewa Faleti: What show the audience take with them when the play is over?

Catherine Charlebois: Never judge a book by its cover.

Adesewa Faleti: What do you enjoy most about being involved with this show?

Catherine Charlebois: That every day I get to go to work and play with an unbelievably fun and supportive group of people. We tell a story that really moves people and entertains them too!

Adesewa Faleti: Thank you!

Wicked play will be in Durham NC until May 27, 2012 at Durham Performing Arts Center. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham Performing Arts Center Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Catherine Charlebois, who plays Nessarose, and fellow cast member Dan Pacheco, who plays Boq, on Tuesday visited Durham School of the Arts to teach a class on acting and movement.

Catherine Charlebois Plays Nessarose in Wicked

Dan Pacheco Plays Boq in Wicked

Charlebois and Pacheco spent the last several minutes of the hour-long class answering students’ questions, ranging from their educational backgrounds and paths to “Wicked” to whether actresses do their own makeup (the answer is, for the most part, yes).

“When you’re acting, specificity is key,” Pacheco advised the group of about 60 high school theater and dance students.

The professionals led the combined class through a series of exercises aimed at fostering specificity, including one in which students were randomly assigned playing cards denoting social class. Kings were the richest of the rich, turning their noses up at most anyone who approached them, while the lowly aces begged for spare change. Participants couldn’t come right out and tell one another the face on their cards – rather, they had to indicate their social class by their behavior.

Waltzing around the room with an air of egotism, junior Anna Acha was clearly a king. A rock musician who aspires to one day work in musical theater, she said after the class that she enjoyed the lesson, particularly since several of the exercises allowed all students to interact with one another.

Most of all, their visit offered students “one-on-one time with someone who is doing what it is that so many of them love to do,” explained DSA theater instructor Tom Nevels. “Our students are here at an arts high school, but I think a lot of times they still have messages coming to them about performance not being a career or needing to always have a backup plan.”

Charlebois and Pacheco said they often visit schools – from the elementary level up to performing arts universities – on tour stops.

“I know when I was their age, it would have been huge for me to see people – not too much older than they are – making it happen and loving their work,” Charlebois said.

And arts programs have become an endangered commodity, Pacheco said.

“Arts are really being cut back in so many communities right now,” he said. “I really like to try to bring some of that into the schools and show the students that you can do things with the arts in your life, and that the arts are important and that being creative is important.”

Read the complete news {Via HeraldSun.com}

Wicked 2nd US National Tour Cast Update:
Lisa Livesay (Glinda), Anne Brummell (Elphaba), Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), Dan Pacheco (Boq), Marilyn Caskey (Madame Morrible), David Nathan Perlow (Fiyero), Don Amendolla (Wizard).

Wicked Tour will close at Durham Performing Arts Center on May 27, 2012. From here it will move to Dayton, OH for the performances at Schuster Performing Arts Center start on May 30 and continue through June 24, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham NC Tickets Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending May 13, 2012.

1. The Lion King – (MINSKOFF) $1,717,281
2. The Book Of Mormon – (EUGENE O’NEILL) $1,598,593
3. Wicked – (GERSHWIN) $1,579,314
4. Evita – (MARQUIS) $1,529,144
5. Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark – (FOXWOODS) $1,218,638
6. Nice Work If You Can Get It (IMPERIAL) – $1,092,937
7. Jersey Boys – (AUGUST WILSON) $937,635
8. Death Of A Salesman (ETHEL BARRYMORE) – $934,861
9. Newsies – (NEDERLANDER) $931,370
10. The Phantom Of The Opera – (MAJESTIC) – $800,916

{Via BroadwayWorld.com}

Lonq Que for Wicked Salt Lake City, Utah Tour Tickets

“In the first hour we probably sold about 7,000 tickets,” said Elisabeth Nebeker, marketing director for MagicSpace Entertainment, the Utah-based presenters bringing “Wicked” to the Capitol Theatre July 18-August 26.

“With season ticket holders and pre-sales we already had about 60 percent of tickets sold, with 12,000 tickets available today.”

Which means tickets are going wicked fast.

The first time the Broadway show stopped by Salt Lake City for its national tour it sold out all three weeks. The musical tells a kind of backstory behind “The Wizard of Oz,” charting the rivalry of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Read the complete story {Via The Salt Lake Tribune}

Wicked Capitol Theatre Utah Tickets on sale for shows July 18 to August 26, 2012. Avail $10 OFF on Wicked Salt Lake City UT Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

The smash hit musical Wicked is returning to the stage at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City and tickets for all shows are now available! Wicked musical is a record-breaking box office sensation! Remember a few years ago when you couldn’t get tickets to see the broadway blockbuster musical Wicked. Buy your Wicked Salt Lake City UT tickets well in advance not to get disappointed.

Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of OZ. One – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for “the most completely satisfying new musical in a long time”(USA Today) On Broadway and around the world, Wicked has worked its magic on critics and audiences alike. Winner of 15 major awards, including a Grammy™ and three Tony™ Awards. Wicked is “Broadway’s biggest blockbuster” (The New York Times).

Don’t miss your chance to experience Wicked musical live, be there in July 2012 by getting your Wicked Capitol Theatre Utah Tickets online right now, before they all go on sale. Avail $10 OFF on Wicked Salt Lake City UT Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

The Wizard’s head in Wicked - now at Durham Performing Arts Center. PHOTO by JOAN MARCUS

This reviewer went into this show thinking about the roles of the strong leading women, noted by producer David Stone in an interview with The Herald-Sun last week. Elphaba (Christine Dwyer) and Glinda (Tiffany Haas) are powerful women and have a powerful friendship that transcends what keeps them apart. Like many college students who are thrown into rooming together, they come from different worlds and different perspectives. Yet both have qualities that bring them together as friends, and audiences like them, too. Dwyer and Haas excel in their roles.

Elphaba, Glinda, Madame Morrible (Marilyn Caskey) and Nessarose (Catherine Charlebois) are all examples of how to ascend to a power position, for good or evil. There’s Elphaba with her natural and earnest power, Glinda with her popularity power, Morrible with her diabolical behind-the-scenes power, and Nessarose, with her power given by nepotism and held onto with might. Except for Morrible, perhaps, we all see the good in these powerful women, even when they make bad choices.

That all this is pulled off in a musical with spectacular songs, fabulous sets and costumes and a compelling story is quite a feat. You won’t leave “Wicked” without kind words to say about it, whether you were most impressed by the technical, vocal, musical or writing talent. It’s too bad that audiences can’t see the orchestra, because they beautifully exemplify what this score can do.

Not to leave out the men: Billy Harrigan Tighe is charming as Fiyero, Timothy Britten Parker is convincing as goat professor Dr. Dillamond, and Dan Pacheco is spot on as Boq. The Wizard (Paul Kreppel) gives one of the best speeches heard on any Broadway tour – sung, of course – about politics and its smiling nefariousness. Kreppel is wonderfully cast as the Wizard. He does a superb job.

Read the complete review {The Herald-Sun}

Buy Wicked Durham NC Tickets Online. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Durham Performing Arts Center Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Vote for Wicked for the 2012 Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards in the following categories:
Favorite Long-Running Show
Favorite Tour
Productions with Multiple Nominations

The Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards will be presented at a swanky affair at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Sunday, May 13.

Now, to vote for Wicked CLICK HERE. Polls close at 11:59PM on Wednesday, May 9.

Below are the Top 12 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending April 29, 2012.

1. The Lion King – (MINSKOFF) $1,761,855
2. Wicked – (GERSHWIN) $1,742,571
3. The Book Of Mormon – (EUGENE O’NEILL) $1,603,228
4. Evita – (MARQUIS) $1,515,746
5. Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark – (FOXWOODS) $1,371,737
6. Jersey Boys – (AUGUST WILSON) $907,895
7. Death Of A Salesman (ETHEL BARRYMORE) – $900,749
8. Newsies – (NEDERLANDER) $897,046
9. Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (SCHOENFELD) – $892,877
10. The Phantom Of The Opera – (MAJESTIC) – $890,181
11. Nice Work If You Can Get It (IMPERIAL) – $829,755
12. Mamma Mia! – (WINTER GARDEN) $804,623

{Via BroadwayWorld.com}

They join a cast that features Alli Mauzey (Glinda), Liz McCartney (Madame Morrible), Justin Brill (Boq), Emily Ferranti (Nessarose), Andy Kelso (Fiyero), Paul Slade Smith (Dr. Dillamond) and Carla Stickler (Standby for Elphaba).

The company also includes Lauren Boyd, Antonette Cohen, Rick Desloge, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Dominic Giudici, Napoleon W. Gladney, Brenda Hamilton, Courtney Iventosch, Spencer Jones, Trevor Ryan Krahl, Renee Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Marissa Lupp, Michael Mahany, Kevin McMahon, Ashley Dawn Mortensen, Cassie Okenka, Christopher Russo, Adea Michelle Sessoms, Sarah Schenkkan, Pamela Shandrow, Shanna VanDerwerker, Nicky Venditti and Mikey Winslow.

Benjamin has played the Wizard on Broadway for five years, with other Main Stem credits including Torch Song Trilogy, Sophisticated Ladies, Pippin, Charlie and Algernon, Sarava, The Pajama Game, The Wind in the Willows, and Damn Yankees.

Parker has played her role on Broadway, with other Broadway credits including The People in The Picture and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. She may be best known for her work on MADtv.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked is based on the 1995 best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, and tells the untold story of the witches of Oz. The musical is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento.

Read the complete news {Via TheaterMania.com}

Wicked Tour will close at The Buell Theatre on May 20, 2012. From here it will move to Sacramento, California for the performances at California Musical Theatre start on May 23 and continue through June 17, 2012.