“Wicked: The Musical” is on its way to becoming the biggest money making franchise in theatre history. Its success is well deserved, as demonstrated at it’s opening in Tucson at UA’s Centennial Hall. However, this popularity is due not only to performing talent, but also to a level of quality control and product improvement.

“Wicked” is the imaginative backstory of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and her friendship with good witch and fellow student, Glinda. Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” used both L. Frank Baum’s original stories and the 1939 movie, “The Wizard of Oz” as starting points. Maguire described a complex and violent history of events prior to Dorothy’s cathartic arrival from Kansas.

About Wicked Musical – Story:

Opening with a visitation by Glinda just after the death of the Wicked Witch, the story is told in flashback, including Elphaba’s conception and birth. It then jumps to their meeting and accidental pairing as roommates in college, where Glinda is empty-headed and popular and Elphaba is a smart, talented loner, though not necessarily by choice.

Glinda does a self-serving favor for Elphaba’s crippled sister (who will become the Wicked Witch of the East), leading Elphaba to get Glinda her first training wand.

After Elphaba’s radicalization into an animal rights activist and her confrontation with the Wizard, she is branded a terrorist. Glinda, by serving the state in its repression, is officially labeled, “the Good.”

The story of Glinda and Elphaba’s wary friendship, growing gradually into lifelong love and respect, is another dimension, as is Elphaba’s transition from outcast girl who desperately wants in, to empowered woman.

Wicked Cast – Top Performing Stars:

The stars of this production, Vicki Noon as Elphaba and Natalie Daradich as Glinda, are electric, especially in their numerous scenes together. Prior to being selected for this national touring company, they were both standby’s for their respective roles in the show’s 2009 San Francisco production. They were also both in the show’s Los Angeles cast.

Vicki Noon brings an incredibly powerful and assured voice. She commands the stage during her solos: giddy and hopeful in “The Wizard and I,” simultaneously vulnerable and courageous in “I’m Not That Girl,” and openly terrifying in “No Good Deed.” She also deftly handles her physical transition from awkward/angry schoolgirl to supernaturally empowered witch.

Actresses playing Glinda have a more difficult character arc, going from comic blonde to tragic leader. Daradich proved herself a master of physical comedy with her annoying perkiness, adroit dancing (both serious and goofy), giggles and girly leg flicks. Leaving the show, groups of girls were laughing as they re-enacted the “hair toss – toss – flutter” moves that she tries to teach Elphaba. As happiness eludes her, Daradich completely sells her tragic aspects with depth and nuance.

Natalie Daradich also well-voiced, though her character requires her to use more nasal tone and an excessive vibrato to undercut any potential seriousness. She demonstrated in the emotional final duet with Noon, “For Good,” that any affectation to her singing was a controlled professional choice.

The other cast members, they all do exemplary jobs in their respective parts, but their roles are numerous and minor in comparison to the two leads. However, the overall ensemble deserves mention for their outstanding singing and dancing.

As good as the “Dancing Through Life” scene was, it was dwarfed by the color and extravagance of the Emerald City number, “One Short Day.” The finale, when they have returned to their surrealistic Les Miserable mob style of the opening scene, singing what can only be described as the “Wicked” chord, is as perfect and memorable as an ending gets.

“Wicked: The Musical” has been shrewdly marketed – the franchise practically owns the color formerly known as “chartreuse.” Its quality control is formidable. Casting for all the productions is handled by a centralized company. Costuming, choreography, and set design are standardized. The only concessions to local variance are the venue’s requirements and the inclusion of nine area musicians to augment the touring company’s in-house band.

Wicked Musical will be a Big hit in Tucson AZ, performing through January 23, 2011. Tickets are still available for few shows. Buy Wicked Tucson Tickets Online and Save $10 on Wicked Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

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.

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 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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Wicked national tour arrive Spokane, Washington in May will undoubtedly be the most sought-after event of Spokane’s spring theater season.

Wicked will be performing at Inb Performing Arts Center from Thursday, May 19, 2011 thru Saturday, May 28, 2011.

It’s the first visit of “Wicked” to Spokane, WA. The hotly anticipated national tour of this re-telling of the “Wizard of Oz” story from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. The show opened on Broadway in 2003 and is still playing to sold-out houses more than seven years later.

Buy Wicked Inb Performing Arts Center Tickets Online. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Spokane WA Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Wicked, The Broadway hit, The Grammy and Tony-award winning musical started performances at the University of Arizona’s Centennial Hall from Wednesday, January 5 2011. The Centennial Hall Performances run through Sunday, January 23, 2011.

Wicked tells the story of two witches before Dorothy dropped into the Land of Oz. One – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. The musical follows how these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Tickets for Wicked Tucson AZ are still on sale. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Centennial Hall AZ Ticket Orders over $350! Use Code AFF$10.

Wicked, the smash hit musical, celebrated a new West End Box Office milestone last week (w/c 27 December 2010) grossing an incredible £1,002,885, the highest single-week gross in London theatre history. Over 20,000 theatregoers attended 9 performances of the “hugely popular musical” (The Times).

In 2010, Wicked continued to sustain year-on-year growth at the Box Office, grossing in excess of £30 million (up over £3 million on 2009). Over 800,000 people attended performances across the year.

Now in its 5th year, Wicked has played almost 1800 performances, been seen by over 3 million theatregoers and taken in excess of £121 million at the UK Box Office since its West End premiere at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 2006.

Executive Producer Michael McCabe said in a statement: “2010 proved to be an extraordinary year for Wicked. As well as enjoying our highest grossing year to date and achieving the amazing milestone of a £1million grossing week, we also won several prestigious awards, raised funds for The Woodland Trust and the St John Ambulance ‘Teach the Difference’ project and we were enormously proud to launch the Wicked Young Writers’ Award with the support of Michael Morpurgo and our Patron, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall. Our grateful thanks go to everyone who continues to support both the show and our many charitable projects”.

In 2010, theatregoers named Wicked London’s ‘Most Popular Show’ (Laurence Olivier Awards), ‘Best West End Show’ (Whatsonstage.com Awards) and ‘Best Long-Running West End Show’ (Broadwayworld.com UK Awards). The musical has won over 35 major awards around the world.

Apollo Victoria Theatre, Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LG

{Via Broadwayworld.com}

Wicked Musical was the top-earning show during the week leading up to the New Year’s holiday, the Broadway League announced Monday.

Wicked, at the Gershwin Theatre, grossed $2,153,110, surpassing the record it had set for the week of November 28, 2010, when it grossed $2,150,665. It is also the record for the largest weekly gross in Broadway history.

Two other Broadway musicals (Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera) have reported that they have broken their respective theater’s records for highest weekly grosses during the week ending January 2. The Broadway League has reported that grosses for the week for all shows totaled $34,997,571.

In addition, 14 other shows grossed over $1 million for the week.

Wicked will be visiting Appleton, WI in January 2011. After breaking ticket office records and selling out in record time in 2009, Wicked, Broadway’s biggest blockbuster, will return to the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton January 26 through February 20.

Wicked at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center – The performance schedule
Tuesday – Friday at 7:30 p.m.,
Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and
Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (excluding the evening performance on Sunday, February 20).
Special matinee performances will be presented on Thursday, January 27 and Thursday, February 17 at 2:00 p.m.

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.

“We’re thrilled to have Wicked back in the Fox Cities,” said Susan Stockton, president of the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. “When we presented Wicked in 2009, we were overwhelmed by the community’s excitement. This second engagement is the perfect chance for those who missed it the first time to be part of the experience, and it’s a great opportunity for established fans to discover something new in a story they love.”

Tickets for Wicked are on sale now and start at $61. Buy Wicked Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Tickets Online.