El Paso is such a small town,and for such a huge thing to come to El Paso is a great thing,” said Sergio Contreras, who plans on seeing the play. “Ithink it’s such a great thing because it’s such an odd-ball thing. El Paso is about the military and stuff like that.”

Wicked Playing The Plaza Theatre

The musical is expected to bring in $2 million, and about 30,000 people have bought tickets for the first two weeks. The El Paso Times says people in the Sun City are also known to buy last-minute tickets.

Read the complete news {Via KFOXtv.com}

Wicked musical will have 16 shows over 12 days during its El Paso debut before closing on February 12, 2012. Buy Wicked The Plaza Theatre Tickets today. Get $10 OFF on Wicked El Paso TX Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

The first weekend El Paso TXperformances are nearly sold out, and the prices for high-demand performances have gone up.

“When ‘Wicked’ leaves here on Feb. 12, it will be the new record holder for national touring Broadway productions in El Paso,” said Brian Crowe, assistant general manager of El Paso’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’ve had a tremendous response and are looking for a very successful two-week run.”

Read the complete news {Via ElPasoInc.com}

Wicked musical runs through February 12 at El Paso Texasand tickets are selling like hot cakes. Buy Wicked El Paso TX Tickets today. Get $10 OFF on Wicked The Plaza Theatre Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

“The two witches, Anne Brummel and Tiffany Haas are so incredibly talented, and to see two young ladies carry a show that way is rare in the musical theater,” says David Nathan Perlow, who plays the role of Fiyero in this production.

“It is a story about accepting people for who they are on the inside, not being distracted by what you may see on the outside, and we can all relate to that I think,” says Perlow.

Wicked musical runs through February 12 and tickets are selling like hot cakes. Buy Wicked Bass Concert Hall Tickets today. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Austin TX Tickets Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Wicked opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre 27 Sep 2006, following previews from 7 Sep, and has since been seen by almost 4 million people and grossed in excess of £154 million at the UK Box Office.

Wicked will perform throughout the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations (Saturday 2 June – Tuesday 5 June 2012), and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with an extra matinee added on Thursday 26 July 2012 at 2.30pm in place of the Friday 27 July 2012 evening performance.

Apollo Victoria Theatre, 17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LG – 1 minute from London Victoria Mainline and Underground Stations. 5 minute walk from Victoria Coach Station

Current Wicked London cast includes Rachel Tucker (Elphaba), Gina Beck (Glinda), Matt Willis (Fiyero), Desmond Barrit (The Wizard).

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Desi Oakley, who grew up and attended school in Wichita, Kansas, started appearing on stage at age 8 with the Music Theatre of Wichita. Following high school, Oakley studied theater at the University of Michigan. According to Annie Thomson (Oakley’s mother), the school receives more than 5,000 applications annually. Only 20 students are accepted each year, 10 boys and 10 girls. The program is elite and regarded as one of the best musical theater schools in the nation.

“It’s really neat, a great accomplishment,” Annie Thomson said. “I know I just sound like a proud mom, but it’s a great thing for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she keeps going for bigger and better things.”

During her career, Oakley has played the lead roles in Evita and The The Little Mermaid. After graduating from Michigan last year, she headed straight for the big show, Wicked Musical.

She was soon picked up by a casting agent, which led to her “universal swing” role in the Broadway production of Wicked. “My Broadway debut was the best night of my life,” Oakley said. “I had so much energy and adrenaline, I felt like I got shot out of a cannon.”

Being a “universal swing” means Oakley fills in for other actors both on the national tour and in New York. She has learned 16 different parts in the play — the roles of every female character in the cast. Currently in Jacksonville, Florida, on tour, Oakley says she could never see herself doing anything else.

“I’ve though a lot about it,” she said. “I can’t think of anything I would rather do. I love being confident in who I am. If you have the passion, nothing can stop you. And I personally feel like I have a duty to share the gifts I was given.”

Wicked is one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time. Wicked musical has grossed nearly $2.5 billion and has been seen by 30 million people worldwide. Wicked is currently playing on tour in Los Angeles, CA and Jacksonville, FL. Buy Wicked Tour 2012 Tickets, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Orders over $350!

Below is an interview with Wicked’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Don Amendolia, by BroadwayWorld.

Wicked Don Amendolia

You have been with the tour as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz for two years. How has life on the road been treating you?
Life on the road has been terrific. It’s been great fun to see other cities, their museums, restaurants and of course happy audiences all across North America. A rare treat.

Do you feel that your interpretation or insight into the Wizard’s character has changed with your time in the role? How so?
While any actor hopes his insight into a character deepens with time while playing a role, I did my homework early on and I think my interpretation of the Wizard hasn’t changed too much. At least I hope not. There’s a big difference between embellishment and refinement. I hope I’ve refined him more.

Some of Wicked’s actors have stated they chose to develop their interpretation of their characters based solely upon the musical’s portrayals, as opposed to reading Gregory Maguire’s novels and drawing additional inspiration there. Have you read the Wicked novels, and if so, did you draw inspiration from them, or perhaps the Wizard of Oz film?
I had read Gregory Maguire’s amazing novel when it was first published, before it became a musical, so by the time I read the show script I was aware of how much my character differed from medium to medium. Over all, I tend to remember who the Wizard was from the movie; more of a snake-oil salesman, carnival shaman who’s trying to hold on to his accidental world. He’s not a bad man, he’s just not a very good Wizard.

How has your experience in Wicked compared to other stage productions?
Honestly, there is no comparison to other shows. Wicked is now a worldwide phenomenon that has touched millions in ways I can only guess at. It’s been a singular experience in every way.

The Wizard, as portrayed in Wicked, is somewhat blinded by power, though a sentimental man who unknowingly wrongs one of his own. If the Wizard knew of this relation from the beginning, how do you think it would have impacted the outcome of Oz’s history?
Power is more seductive than anything else to the Wizard and at its core, absolute power corrupts absolutely. He may be a sentimental man but by the time Elphaba comes to Oz I think the Wizard is hip-deep in the panic that he may lose it all. He may regret it and hindsight is 20-20 but by then it’s too late. He is finally powerless to change anything.

Read the complete interview {Via BroadwayWorld.com}

In addition to Grey, Jackson and Benanti, the evening’s guests will include Elaine Paige, Donna Murphy, Debra Monk, Andrew Lippa, Marlo Thomas, Brent Barrett, Carole Shelley, Josh Young, David Elder, Marni Nixon, Jason Graae, Eden Espinosa, Kevin Clash from Sesame Street, as well as original and current cast members from the Broadway musical Wicked.

The show will include selections from Chenoweth’s impressive resume, featuring numbers from Wicked, Glee, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Candide, Promises, Promises, Steel Pier, The Apple Tree, the TV adaptations of Annie and The Music Man and more.

Read the complete news {Via Broadway Buzz}

Based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked, winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy® and three 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, the untold story of the witches of Oz, 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 will be performing in The Plaza Theatre El Paso from February 01 through February 12, 2012. Buy Wicked El Paso TX Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Orders over $350!

However, if there is one character from “The Wizard of Oz” who deserves a back story, it’s definitely not the young girl whose house gets blown away by a tornado. Instead, it is Elphaba (Mamie Parris), sister to the Wicked Witch of the East (Cristy Candler), who has a more compelling story to tell – one about a time where she wasn’t wicked at all.

The musical “Wicked” currently playing at the Pantages Theatre tells that story and continue through January 29, 2012. The show begins with the munchkins of Oz celebrating the death of Elphaba. The production does an extraordinary job in the storytelling and performance while also including just the right amount of comedy and wit in between. “Wicked” combines love, tragedy and ethics to create a story with a not-so-predictable happy ending.

As Glinda (Katie Rose Clarke) enters and celebrates with the rest of Oz, one of the munchkins questions whether she was once friends with the Wicked Witch. As the munchkins gasp in disbelief that someone would ask such a question, Glinda begins to tell the story of when she first crossed paths with the Wicked Witch – a time where she and Elphaba became good friends.

Each number the cast performed ended with a roaring applause from the audience while every joke, whether minor or major, was reciprocated with just the right amount of laughter echoing through the Pantages.

The stage production was also very impressive, with smooth transitions between scenes and performances.

Clarke does an amazing job as Glinda, an overconfident, popular and spoiled girl who always gets her way. From her exaggerated movement on stage to her knack for using a lot of made-up words, Clarke had a stage presence that kept the audience wondering what she was going to do or say next.

Parris also does a spectacular job in playing just the opposite of Clarke, a green (literally) character who has no friends and is blamed by her father for why her sister has to be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

As the plot carries the audience through Glinda and Elphaba’s time as students, roommates and friends, “Wicked,” includes frequent references to “The Wizard of Oz” – telling a back story of how the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow all came about.

The musical reveals many ideas that would have never been evident just by watching “The Wizard of Oz.” “Wicked,” at some points in the musical, makes audiences who have grown up with the “The Wizard of Oz” story feel cheated and mislead about “the wonderful wizard” as well as the wicked and good witches, but at the same time happy to finally know the truth.

Read the complete story {Via DailyBruin.com}

Wicked will be performing in Los Angeles CA through January 29, 2012. Buy Wicked Pantages Theatre Tickets Online. Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Wicked Los Angeles CA Tickets Orders over $350!

Anne Brummel (left) as Elphaba and Tiffany Haas as Glinda in Wicked Musical at the Times-Union Center's Moran Theater

It provides a clever backstory to Elphaba, the mean and green Wicked Witch of the West played by Margaret Hamilton in the iconic 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz” but has never been a critical darling. But the characters are fascinating and the plot dovetails satisfyingly with the familiar story we know from the movie. Dorothy’s trip to Oz coincides with the last half of the second act and while she is never seen on stage, she is referenced in several scenes.

The story centers on Elphaba, a young woman born with green skin and mysterious powers, a permanent outsider who strikes unlikely alliances at school with the dazzlingly popular Glinda (soon to be the good witch) and the dashingly irresponsible Fiyero. When she learns that the animals of Oz, once treated as equals to humans, are being oppressed, Elphaba becomes an unlikely animal-rights advocate and a social outcast.

The touring version now at the Moran Theater in The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts works wonderfully well. Anne Brummel makes a fierce Elphaba and Tiffany Haas a bubbly, self-absorbed Glinda. Don Amendolia is expert as the humbug Wizard and Timothy Britten Parker makes a terrific goatman as Dr. Dillamond.

The sets, costumes and special effects are dazzling as Glinda flies around in her bubble and Elphaba on her broom, while the Wizard’s mechanical head roars and belches smoke.

Read the complete review {Via Jacksonville.com}

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