Mark Evans will join the cast of Wicked in the role of ‘Fiyero’, from Monday 7 Feb 2011 at Apollo Victoria replacing Lee Mead.

Evans will play the part of Fiyero in the production at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. He joins the existing company that includes Rachel Tucker as Elphaba and Louise Dearman as Glinda, with Julie Legrand as Madame Morrible, Clive Carter as the Wizard and Julian Forsyth as Dr. Dillamond.

The musical is now in its fifth year and has seen by more than three million people in London. Buy your Wicked Apollo Victoria Tickets.

Wicked has been voted the best long-running show in the West End at an awards ceremony this week.

The untold story of the witches of Oz was picked as top in this category at the BroadwayWorld.com UK Awards, closely followed by Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.

Meanwhile, the overall title of Best Musical went to Love Never Dies, with Les Miserables named top in the Best Revival of a Musical category.

This comes after Wicked was also named Most Popular Show in the 2010 Laurence Olivier Awards – as voted for by the public – as well as Best West End Show at the WhatsonStage.com Awards and takes its total number of gongs worldwide to 35.

Now in its fifth year, an estimated three million people have seen Wicked in London at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

In October 2010, it broke a West End record for the highest ever recorded weekly gross takings, brining in £923,612 in the week ending October 30th.

Read Wicked Tulsa Review by JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer on Tulsa World

At Thursday’s matinee performance, I sat behind what had to be the most ardent fans of Wicked in northeastern Oklahoma.

Not only did they know every word of every song of this musical (which opened its 16-performance run at the Tulsa PAC on Wednesday), this couple also quoted most of the show’s choicest lines of dialogue, usually in perfect sync with the performers on the Chapman Music Hall stage.

And they spent most of the intermission telling all who would listen how this particular performance compared to the one they had seen last summer, when “Wicked” spent a month at the PAC.

This particular touring production of the show benefits from a pair of excellent performances by its leading ladies, Vicki Noon as Elphaba and Natalie Daradich as Galinda.

Daradich’s Galinda has all the self-absorbed perkiness one expects, but she never slips into the cartoonish antics that we’ve seen other actresses use. Her Galinda is a little more complex, a little more human.

The same is true of Noon, who plays Elphaba as someone who truly feels the pain of being an outcast, rather than someone who relishes the anger her status engenders. Even the moment when she lets out a Margaret Hamilton-like cackle – which got one of the biggest ovations during Thursday’s matinee – had a kind of poignant edge to it.

Noon’s and Daradich’s singing voices are so finely matched that in their duets it often sounded as if some passages were sung by a single voice, rather than two. That, and the fact that the two women are the same height, emphasized the concept that these two very different people are two sides of the same coin.

The weak links in the cast – or, to draw from the clockwork theme of “Wicked’s” set design, the two cogs whose gears don’t quite mesh – are Chris Peluso as Fiyero and Don Amendolia as the Wizard.

Wicked continues with performances through Nov. 28 at the Tulsa Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Tickets are on Sale. Wicked Tulsa OK Tickets Online.

Wicked will blow you away and give you more of a background on what happened before Dorothy landed in Oz.

At the risk of giving away to much, this review will be rather vanilla in its approach for that reason. If I tell to much about it, I will give too much away and that just wouldn’t be fair to those who have yet to experience this hit musical.

The story is based around who the witches were in the “merry old Land of Oz” and how they grew up. From the birth of Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of The West) to how she became who she ended up being in The Wizard of Oz and beyond. As well as, the back story of the relationship between she and Glinda, (the Good Witch) starting out as Galinda, pronounced with a Ga.

There are plenty of ooh’s and ahh’s to be had and lots of laughter as the story unfolds in front of you. Vicki Noon, who plays Elphaba, gives a stellar performance and has superb vocal ability and range. She really does steal the show and makes you have a whole new appreciation for The Wicked Witch. Natalie Daradich, who portrays Glinda, is cute and bubbly, with an infectious amount of narcissism and straight ahead conceitedness. All in good fun though, she is the child of privilege, as opposed to Elphaba ,who is her polar opposite in more than just skin tone.

Kudos to Celebrity Attractions for bringing this back for a second year. Let us just hope that it will be a regular engagement in Tulsa.

Wicked is playing now at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center through November 28th, 2010. The performance schedule will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday Evenings at 7:30 pm, Friday Evenings at 8:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2:00 pm and Saturday Evenings at 8:00 pm. No performance on Thursday, November 25th due to Thanksgiving holiday. Wicked Tulsa, OK Tickets starts at $30.00.

Read Wicked Review by Ernie Osborn on TulsaToday.com

Wicked opens in Brisbane on January 11, before playing in Adelaide from April 15 and Perth from June 19.

Musical theatre star David Harris will be joining the hit musical Wicked in the role of Fiyero for the 2011 national tour, Wicked Australia Co-Producer John Frost announced today.

Since being awarded a MO Award for Best New Talent in 1997, David Harris has become one of Australia’s leading men of musical theatre. He has starred in many of Australia’s top musical productions such as Miss Saigon (Helpmann Award and Sydney Theatre Award nomination), The Full Monty, Mamma Mia!, The Boy From Oz, Fiddler On The Roof and Damn Yankees to name just a few.

“David will make a wonderful Fiyero,” said Frost.

“He has proven himself to be the foremost leading man of his generation in musical theatre, with an impressive list of roles. He commands the stage with his warmth, charisma and charm, and acts with truthfulness and intensity. His powerful voice can convey great emotion, and he dances magnificently. David is a true ‘triple threat’. I can’t wait to see him on stage with Lucy Durack (as Glinda the Good) and Jemma Rix (as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West).”

Harris is very excited to join the cast.

“Ever since I saw Wicked, I’ve wanted to be a part of this astonishing show. It’s one of those rare shows that has wide appeal, but also has something important to say. Fiyero goes on a fascinating journey throughout the show, and I feel very honoured to be cast in the role. I can’t wait to join the amazingly talented cast in the rehearsal room.”

Wicked, starring Lucy Durack, Jemma Rix, Bert Newton, Maggie Kirkpatrick and David Harris opens in Brisbane on January 11, before playing in Adelaide from April 15 and Perth from June 19.

The Broadway musical Wicked returns to Tulsa tomorrow, Wednesday, November 17.

Crews spent Tuesday getting ready for opening night. More than 130 carpenters rigged the stage with a massive dragon and a giant clock.

“We bring the Broadway experience to Tulsa,” said Justin Klynsma, head carpenter. “This is a really big show. This is not cut down over the generation. This has all the bells and whistles.”

This is the second time the Broadway musical has come to Tulsa. The Tulsa Performing Arts center said last summer’s run broke box office records and sold out in record time.

Wicked opens Wednesday night, November 17, 2010 and runs through November 28, 2010 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in downtown Tulsa, OK.

Don’t miss your chance to see the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch in this spellbinding production! Buy your Wicked Tulsa Performing Arts Center Tickets now!

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2006, Wicked, Broadway’s biggest blockbuster, will return to the Orange County Performing Arts Center March 9 – April 3, 2011. Tickets for the return engagement are on sale.

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. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (My So Called Life, Once And Again and thirtysomething).
Tickets to see Wicked are available now with a Broadway Series custom package. Single ticket prices will start at $38.75 and go on sale Sunday, December 12 at 10 a.m.

Wicked Will come to Costa Mesa, CA (Orange County) on Wednesday March 9, 2011 and Perform through Sunday April 3, 2011. Buy Wicked Orange County Performing Arts Center – Segerstrom Hall Tickets Online. Save $10 on Wicked Ticket Orders over $350! Code AFF$10

On Wednesday, November 10, producer Marc Platt presented creator Stephen Schwartz an award at the matinee of the Broadway musical Wicked celebrating the Grammy-winning Original Cast Recording, which has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), commemorating sales of over two million copies in the United States.

Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, Wicked features a score by Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. It originally opened in 2003.

Actresses Mandy Gonzalez and Katie Rose Clarke, who respectively play the roles of Elphaba and Glinda in the show, were on hand for the presentation.

Wicked Tour arrives in Little Rock’s Robinson Center Music Hall for a two week run playing through November 14, 2010.

Wicked, which arrived with its “must see” status fixed permanently on its black witches cap. Celebrity Attractions booked the show for two weeks — a huge bet on demand — and, if word of mouth is as golden as marketers believe it is, then they’ll walk away winners. This “Wicked,” bolstered by lead performances of Vicki Noon as Elphaba and Natalie Daradich as Glinda, is everything a huge musical should be — tuneful, funny, compelling, fantastical, glittery and odd. Musicals strain at credulity to begin with and the story in “Wicked” is one that makes your head hurt if you think about it too much.

And you do care about the fate of the two girls who will eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West (Noon) and Glinda the Good Witch (Daradich). “Wicked,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, works best when exploring the relationship between the two in which they begin as enemies and end as friends. The highlight is the school dorm room scene where Daradich, playing the blonde, self-absorbed Glinda to the hilt, teaches Elphaba, born with the scream-inducing green skin, to be “Popular.” Daradich struts and faints and pulls out every laugh imaginable.

As Elphaba, Noon is the central figure in “Wicked” and, as such, has the showstopping numbers such as “Defying Gravity,” which she belts out with wicked power. “Wicked” is smart in the way it consistently works in quotes and totems such as the broomstick from “The Wizard of Oz.”

On many occasions the touring shows that pull into Robinson have young, uneven casts — that isn’t the case with this “Wicked.“ The large cast is strong across the board. The set, which often looks is like the inside of a moving clock and packed with special effects, the lights and costumes are dazzlers. Don’t miss your chances to watch “Wicked” in Little Rock’s Robinson Center Music Hall.

Save $10 on Wicked Little Rock, AR Ticket Orders over $350! Code AFF$10

The Grammy-winning Original Cast Recording of the Broadway musical Wicked has been certified doubled platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), commemorating sales of over two million copies in the United States.

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.

The original cast included Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda), Idina Menzel (Elphaba), Norbert Leo Butz (Fyero), Carole Shelley (Madame Morrible), Joel Grey (The Wizard), Michelle Federer (Nessarose), and Christopher Fitzgerald (Boq).

Wicked is currently playing on tour in Toronto-ON and Little Rock-AR.