Broadway hit musical Wicked was a big success as 30,000 people and $2.37 million came through the Plaza Theater last month, said El Paso city leaders. Wicked musical during its Feb. 1-12 run at the Plaza Theatre shattered box office records.

The musical reached a record gross of $2.37 million and is now El Paso’s most successful touring Broadway show. Approximately 5,100 tickets were purchased by visitors outside the El Paso area, bringing an estimated economic impact of $1.8 million.

“The success of Wicked in El Paso was unprecedented; El Pasoans were thrilled,” said Bryan Crowe Assistant General Manager of the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Centers. “When discussions were initiated over two years ago about the opportunity to bring this national blockbuster to El Paso, we dared to believe this community would respond and make WICKED the tremendous success it was. We hope this success will help pave the road for similar long term engagements in the future,” he said

“We are so pleased that audiences were spellbound by the show’s two-week engagement and we hope ‘Wicked’s’ popularity meant big business for area merchants,” said Steven Traxler, president of Chicago-based Jam Theatricals.

“‘Wicked’ kept us very busy, with a 66 percent increase in sales during the two-week period,” Angela Geske of the Garden Restaurant said. “We were full with dinner reservations throughout the time that ‘Wicked’ was at the Plaza Theatre.”

“Wicked” was part of the 2011-2012 El Paso Electric Broadway in El Paso series. Musical lovers may expect more shows, including “100 Years of Broadway,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Mamma Mia!” and “The Rat Pack is Back.”

Wicked is currently running at Tempe, AZ and Norfolk, VA. Buy Wicked Chrysler Hall Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Orders over $350!

Wicked Coming to Orange County Performing Arts Center Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, California in the year 2013. The greatest musical, Wicked is included in the Segerstrom Center for the Arts eclectic lineup for its 2012-13 season, which was announced Thursday.

Wicked will be playing at Orange County Performing Arts Center Segerstrom Hall

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, 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 Orange County Performing Arts Center Segerstrom Hall from February 19 through March 17, 2013. Buy Wicked Costa Mesa CA Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Orders over $350!

Wicked comes to Salle Wilfrid Pelletier Place Des Arts in Montreal Quebec Canada, August 01, 2012.

Wicked Canada 2012 Tour kick starts with Montreal Quebec Canada (August 01 to August 26, 2012) and moves to Kitchener Ontario Canada (August 29 to September 09, 2012).

Wicked is the story of two witches, Elphaba, the unfortunate girl with the green skin, and the blonde and perfect Glinda. One – born with emerald-green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. They grow up together and become rivals for the attention of the handsome Fiyero. Elphaba sides with the animals and is called the Wicked Witch of the West while Glinda the Good becomes known as the Good Witch of the North. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, and how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

Wicked is currently playing on tour at the BJCC Concert Hall in Birmingham AL through March 4 and at Gammage Auditorium through March 11, 2012. From here Wicked will move to Norfolk, VA. The performances at Salle Wilfrid Pelletier Place Des Arts start on August 01, 2012 and continue through August 26, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Montreal Quebec Canada Tickets Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Wicked Broadway grossed $1,872,679 with #1 in the list and had a 100% attendance rate, about 0.2% more than the previous week. The 26 shows on the boards grossed $20,315,215, around 1.2% more that of the previous week’s totals.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses from BroadwayWorld.com for the week ending February 26, 2012.

1. Wicked – (GERSHWIN) $1,872,679
2. The Lion King – (MINSKOFF) $1,732,972
3. Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark – (FOXWOODS) $1,643,155
4. The Book Of Mormon – (EUGENE O’NEILL) $1,468,595
5. Jersey Boys – (AUGUST WILSON) $1,018,596
6. The Phantom Of The Opera – (MAJESTIC) $985,906
7. Mary Poppins – (NEW AMSTERDAM) $957,197
8. War Horse – (VIVIAN BEAUMONT) $955,542
9. Porgy And Bess – (RICHARD RODGERS) $881,225
10. Mamma Mia! – (WINTER GARDEN) $825,341

{Via BroadwayWorld.com}

Starting March 07, where Wicked second North American tour start the performances at Chrysler Hall, Paul Kreppel will play the role of Wizard. Kreppel will join a cast that includes Anne Brummel as Elphaba, Tiffany Haas as Glinda and Marilyn Caskey as Madame Morrible.

Kreppel’s acting credits include the original NY productions of Godspell, NY Shakespeare Festival’s Comedy of Errors and Alice in Concert, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, My Mother’s Italian…, Joseph…, The Proposition and the national tour of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. Hundreds of television appearances include Sonny Mann in the 80’s comedy “It’s A Living,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Love Boat,” “ER” and “That ’70’s Show!” (as Jackie’s Dad).

The other cast: Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), Dan Pacheco (Boq), Timothy Britten Parker (Dr. Dillamond), David Nathan Perlow (Fiyero) and Stephanie Torns (standby for Elphaba) with Kerry Blanchard, Michael Drolet, Jeremy Duvall, Anna Eilinsfeld, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Samantha Farrow, Natalie Fotopoulos, Linda Griffin, Lauren Haughton, Zach Hensler, KJ Hippensteel, Ryan Jackson, Becca Kloha, Lisa Livesay, Sterling Masters, Marissa Miller, Robert Pendilla, Casey Quinn, Michael McCorry Rose, Wayne Schroder, Ben Susak, Erin Wilson, Justin Wirick and Lindsay Wood.

Wicked is currently playing on tour at the BJCC Concert Hall in Birmingham AL through March 4. From here Wicked will move to Norfolk, VA. The performances at Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall start on March 7 and continue through March 25, 2012. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Chrysler Hall Tickets Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

The Broadway musical “Wicked” is in Birmingham playing at BJCC Concert Hall. This company travels around the country performing 52 weeks a year and the one thing most people remember about this show is the main character is green.

Fox 6 had a backstage pass to interview some of the cast members – Wacth Video below:

Transforming Anne Brummel into her character, Elphaba, takes about 30 minutes.

Makeup artist Joyce McGilberry applies a mixture of water and green paint to performer Anne Brummel. “To me it’s just work and once the green is on you really become Elphaba the character,” Brummel said.

Using water and green paint, makeup artist Joyce McGilberry colors Anne’s face and chest with a brush. After that she applies a powder that keeps in the paint in place.

“That keeps it pretty still. It comes off in a few places. A certain gentleman might get it on his face occasionally when we kiss but it stays pretty set because of the powder,” Brummel said.

During the month-long stop in Birmingham Brummel and McGilberry will go through about 25 packs of green paint and countless packs of powder, but being green provides some other makeup challenges. Instead of using pink for blush, McGilberry uses purple.

“The green will give the appearance of flattening out the face so we use the purple to lift her cheekbones,” McGilberry said.

Brummel and McGilberry said all of the hard prep work pays off when the audience gets to see the final product on stage.

“I can’t imagine doing this role without the green. I don’t think it would be the same,” Brummel said.

As for getting the green paint off, Brummel says it takes about 10 minutes to scrub it off. She has a shower in her dressing room so she can wash it off before she leaves the BJCC.

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The company of the first North American tour of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Wicked will welcome Alli Mauzey as Glinda and Andy Kelso as Fiyero beginning Feb. 24 in Tempe, AZ.

Alli Mauzey and Andy Kelso join Wicked as Glinda and Fiyero

Mauzey already played the “popular” part in both the Broadway and San Francisco productions. Mauzey returns to Wicked having previously starred as Glinda in both the Broadway and final San Francisco productions. She also starred as Lenora in the Broadway production of Cry-Baby (Theatre World Award winner and Drama League Award nomination) and also played Brenda in Hairspray on Broadway. Andy Kelso played Sky in Broadway’s Mamma Mia!

They will join a cast that includes Mamie Parris as Elphaba, Liz McCartney as Madame Morrible and Mark Jacoby as The Wizard.

The company also features Justin Brill (Boq), Emily Ferranti (Nessarose), Paul Slade Smith (Dr. Dillamond), Carla Stickler (Standby for Elphaba) and Natalie Daradich (Standby for Glinda) with Lauren Boyd, Antonette Cohen, Rick Desloge, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Dominic Giudici, Napoleon W. Gladney, Brenda Hamilton, Courtney Iventosch, Trevor Ryan Krahl, Renee Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Marissa Lupp, Michael Mahany, Alli McGinnis, Lesley McKinnell, Kevin McMahon, Ashley Dawn Mortensen, Christopher Russo, Adea Michelle Sessoms, Pamela Shandrow, Shanna VanDerwerker, Nicky Venditti and Mikey Winslow.

Wicked is currently playing ASU Gammage through March 11, 2012. Wicked ASU Gammage tickets are selling like hot cakes. Buy Wicked Tempe AZ Tickets today, Get $10 OFF on Wicked Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Wicked is currently playing at Bjcc Concert Hall and continue through Sunday, March 4, 2012.

Here is the preview of Wicked musical by Alec Harvey at AL.com:

“Wicked” is special, with spectacular special effects, sumptuous sets and beautiful costumes that rival any show that’s been in Birmingham. Throw in some endearing and affecting performances from Tiffany Haas and Anne Brummel, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

Haas and Brummel play Glinda and Elphaba, two boarding school chums turned witches – the witches who become Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz.” In “Wicked,” based on Gregory Maguire’s much darker “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” we find out how they became who they were.

Haas and Brummel are a good match as the witches who form an unlikely bond. They both have soaring voices, and they are superb actresses, bringing out the comedic and dramatic aspects of their characters. That’s essential to the success of “Wicked,” since it’s kind of hard to like either one of them considering what they do to each other. Haas brings some heart to the character of Glinda, which might otherwise just be a caricature of a blonde, self-absorbed … witch. Brummel’s Elphaba is multi-dimensional, too, although her singing throughout most of Act I was a tad odd, almost tentative. But once she hit the high notes of the Act I closer, composer Stephen Schwartz’s emotional “Defying Gravity,” she hit her stride.

If Brummel was a little weaker in Act I, she wasn’t alone. Both Dan Pacheo as Boq and understudy Michael McCorry Rose as Fiyero were a bit off the mark musically. They were both OK, but what “OK” meant was that “Dancing Through Life,” their big number that should have been a showcase of dance and song, was listless and forgettable. Rose seemed uncomfortable dancing across the stage, much less through life, and you just didn’t believe that Pacheo’s Boq had fallen head over heels for Glinda. Both did get much better in Act II, but “Dancing Through Life” – usually a “Wicked” highlight — might just as well have been skipped.

Read the complete review {Via AL.com}

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Wicked Tour will make a stop in Baltimore, MD in the month of October 2012. The Hippodrome’s 2012-2013 Broadway Series includes the biggest hit musical “Wicked”. “From a consumer perspective, this is a juggernaut season,” said Jeff Daniel, president of the Hippodrome at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center.

Wicked was a huge hit when it first played the Hippodrome in 2007.

‘Wicked’ The award-winning musical, which provides a back story for the Land of Oz and the two witches who will change the life of an unsuspecting farm girl from Kansas, is scheduled to open the season October 03, 2012 and run for a month.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other 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. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, and how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

Wicked Hippodrome Theatre At The France-Merrick PAC Schedule – October 03 to November 04, 2012:
Tuesdays to Fridays – 8:00 PM
Saturdays – 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Sundays – 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM
Special matinee on Thursday, October 04, 2012 at 2:00 PM

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Wicked tour is all set to start performances at Gammage Auditorium starting Wednesday, February 15, 2012. When Wicked played ASU Gammage, Tempe AZ in 2009, it broke box office records, sold out in record time.

The two-hour-and-45-minute musical takes audiences back to a time before Dorothy and Toto, when two unlikely friends — one fiery and misunderstood with emerald green skin, the other beautiful, ambitious and popular — grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch.

Wicked Gammage Auditorium Performances Schedule:
Tuesdays – Fridays – 7:30 PM
Saturdays – 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
Sundays – 1:00 PM and 6:30 PM
No performances on Tuesday 2/21/2012 and Wednesday 2/22/2012.

Wicked is the winner of 35 awards, including a Grammy and three Tonys. It’s also Broadway’s biggest blockbuster, named “the defining musical of the decade” by The New York Times. Wicked is recommended for audiences age 8 and older.

Wicked Musical Opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; runs through March 11, 2012 at Gammage Auditorium, 1200 South Forest Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281. Buy Wicked Tempe AZ Tickets today. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.