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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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.

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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.

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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.

According to TicketNews’ exclusive venues rankings for the week ending Sunday, December 26, Wicked is in the number one position for the second straight week, power scoring a 6.49. “Wicked” was followed in the rankings by Jersey Boys (two, 2.96), Taylor Swift (three, 2.29) and the 2011 BCS National Championship Game (four, 2.13).

“Wicked” led both the Top Broadway and Top Theater rankings this week, power scoring a 19.72 and 22.79, respectively. “Wicked” was joined on the Broadway list by The Merchant of Venice (two, 12.53), “Jersey Boys” (three, 8.57) and holiday favorite the Radio City Christmas Spectacular (four, 7.37). Plagued by delays and bad luck, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, finished at number five (6.96) this week, followed by Cirque Du Soleil’s Wintuk at six (5.98) and Lion King at seven (4.23). The long running hit musical Phantom of the Opera finished the week at eight (2.45), with Billy Elliot in at nine (2.24) and the holiday production of Elf at ten (2.12).

Following “Wicked” in the Top Theater rankings were “Jersey Boys” (two, 10.79), “West Side Story” (three, 5.62), “The Merchant of Venice” (four, 4.61) and “Lion King” (five, 3.80). This week, Les Miserables made an unusual appearance in the top ten, finishing at number six (3.60). “Billy Elliot” took number seven (3.26), followed by the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” at eight (3.16). Mary Poppins continued its holiday resurgence this week, coming in at number nine (3.02), and “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark” ended the week at number ten (2.55).

{Via TicketNews.com}

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, All the Wicked fans.

If you’re looking for a Chicago theater outing, The blockbuster hit musical Wicked is now running in Chicago Cadillac Palace for an almost two-month run during the holidays from December 01, 2010 to January 23, 2011. Wicked is back for a six-week run at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. Take your daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughters, and bff’s to see a beautiful story about best friends.

Read the complete review – {Via nwi.com}

Buy Wicked Chicago IL Tickets Online.

The leads of the best musical Wicked, Natalie Daradich as Glinda and Vicki Noon as the green-skinned Elphaba carry the play effortlessly, singing gorgeously, discovering rich drama as well as comedy. Noon makes the transition from earnest student to witchiness with assurance. Fabulous Performance.

Natalie Daradich and Vicki Noon star in Wicked

Vicki Noon (right) plays Elphaba and Natalie Daradich is Glinda in the production of Wicked

Wicked is currently playing on tour in Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago and Murat Theatre, Indianapolis.