Wicked is currently performing on tour in Denver, CO and at Buell Theatre Still Stands Strong. Wicked Cast: Starring Mamie Parris, Alli Mauzey, Andy Kelso, Liz McCartney, Emily Ferranti, Paul Slade Smith, Mark Jacoby and Justin Brill. Here is the review by Lisa Kennedy @ Denver Post Theater Critic.

“Wicked” is an outcast tale, a female friendship parable, a story of corruption and chicanery by authorities we — rather the denizens of the Emerald City — put our trust in. It is a wry reconsideration of good (is it overrated?) and evil (is it misunderstood?) — or at least L. Frank Baum’s version of that eternal tussle found in his classic novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

On opening night this production, starring Mamie Parris and Alli Mauzey, was quick-witted, generous and deft with the laughs, of which there are many. Still, I couldn’t help wishing for a better blend of the tender and the hilarious.

Parris and Mauzey portray Elphaba and Galinda. Eventually, Galinda adopts her better-known moniker, Glinda. Elphaba will claim her name, her fame or infamy, as the Wicked Witch of the West. Parris has a rich voice that fills out Elphaba’s sorrow and youthful angst. Mauzey brings stop-on-a-dime comedic timing to Galinda’s antics. She’s a tireless, rapid-fire trouper.

“Wicked” wastes little time in evoking one of the more indelible images of the movie, with winged monkeys climbing above the stage. But memories of Dorothy Gale, Kansas and Oz are quickly turned topsy turvy. The sets are evocative: spectacle without the clutter.

As the play opens, Glinda confirms the Wicked Witch of the West’s death by water bucket. “Wicked” then unfolds as a flashback about how the two came to know each other.

The Green and the Good meet when they arrive at Shiz University. The jade-hued daughter of the Munchkin governor has been sent to school ostensibly to keep an eye on her wheelchair-bound, fair-haired younger sister, Nessarose (Emily Ferranti). There is antagonism at first sight, then a tentative friendship and, later, something of a competing love interest in popular guy Fiyero (Andy Kelso, a graduate of Aurora’s Eaglecrest High School), who turns out to be deeper than his deep pockets.

Elphaba is gifted and the school’s Madame Morrible sees it and seizes upon it. The youngster’s talent might even get her an audience with the Wizard (Mark Jacoby). Liz McCartney as the full-figured doyen of the school takes to her role with a brassy aplomb.

Paul Slade Smith makes Dr. Dillamond touching as a horned professor soon to become a target. The rules are changing in Oz, and magical animals are no longer appreciated.

Three songs have approached classic status. This despite the critical ink spilled since the play’s 2003 debut debating whether the musical has any memorable tunes. A great many reviews said no, but then critics are used to losing arguments with audiences.

Read the complete review {Via denverpost.com}

Wicked Musical will play through Sunday, May 20 at the Buell Theatre, 1101 13th St. Get $10 OFF on Wicked Denver CO Ticket Orders of $350 or more by using code #SpringSavings at Checkout.

Wicked is currently performing at Detroit Opera House, Detroit Michigan. Wicked will run through December 31 at the Detroit Opera House.

The music in Wicked is wonderful and the costumes are very beautiful. The stage sets and special effects, particularly the Wizard’s facade, are extremely well. Both Anne Brummel (Elphaba) and Tiffany Haas (Glinda), are inspired performances as actors, providing beautiful and chilling vocals throughout the entire play in both solos and duets.

Wicked musical is simultaneously comedic and dramatic and, combined with the great acting and musical talent, supported the subtext of the play very well. Wicked would be a great experinced musical of great fun, music and stories at the Detroit Opera House and you must not miss this highly recommended musical Wicked who is interested in music, theater, or opera.

Wicked will play at Detroit Opera House through December 31, 2011. Buy Wicked Detroit MI Tickets Online. Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Wicked Detroit Opera House Tickets Orders over $350! Also Use Code HOL2011 for FREE SHIPPING!

Wicked Musical Review at the Apollo Victoria Theatre by The Fan Carpet Youtube Channel.

Wicked is a standing production in the London GL at the Apollo Victoria. It’s well worth seeing. Buy Wicked London, United Kingdom Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Wicked Apollo Victoria Ticket Orders over $350!

Wicked is currently playing on tour at the Des Moines Civic Center through December 04, 2011.

The musical focuses on Elphalba (Anne Brummel) and Galinda (Tiffany Haas), the wicked witch of the west and the good witch of the north, respectively. When the audience meets them, Elphalba is a green-skinned girl used to having the world look askance at her. Galinda (who renames herself with the more familiar Glinda only after one of the characters gets her goat), is the popular one, for whom everything has always come easily.

The two form an unlikely friendship (one of the few true clichés in this story) and jointly go to Oz to meet the wizard. The crisis they face there splits them. Elphalba’s strength allows her to make what she sees as the right choice. Galinda, without Elphalba’s tough background, makes the easy one.

Brummel and Haas are certainly up to the roles. They give both the realism necessary to pull off the most poignant scenes, the ones where the audience cringes with recognition of themselves in Elphalba’s painful awkwardness and Galinda’s stunning shallowness. The growth of the characters through the story feels natural, not scripted.

They have an able cast surrounding them. David Nathan Perlow as Fiyero, a playboy prince, turns in a solid performance, as does Dan Pacheco as a lovelorn Munchkin. Neither overshadows the witches, but both hold their own while sharing the stage with them.

A note about the audience: Ovations at the end of the performance can seem more of a duty than a genuine expression. The audience I saw had no such hesitation, coming out of their seats almost as soon as the final song ended for a well-deserved standing ovation.

Read the complete review {Via Journal Express}

Wicked runs through Sunday, December 4 at the Des Moines Civic Center. It’s well worth seeing. Buy Wicked Des Moines IA Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Orders over $350!

When Wicked first landed in Nashville in 2009, it played to sold-out crowds and broke box-office records. Now, the award-winning blockbuster is back and once again ready to cast its spell on local audiences at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003 and quickly became something of a cultural phenomenon. Loosely based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical explores the untold story (and unlikely friendship) of green-skinned Elphaba and Glinda the Good — and just how they became the witches of Oz.

Anne Brummel brings great strength and sensitivity to the role of Elphaba, wowing the crowd in the show’s defining musical number, “Defying Gravity.” Meanwhile, Tiffany Haas shines as the perky and popular Glinda. Far less chirpy than other Glindas I’ve seen, Haas makes the most of the role’s comic elements, while capitalizing on its more bittersweet moments.

And while the two seemed a bit tentative in their opening numbers, both settle into their roles nicely, sharing a joyful chemistry. “What Is This Feeling?” and “Popular” are especially fun.

Brummel and Haas receive fine support from Jody Gelb (as schoolmistress Madame Morrible), Emily Ferranti (Nessarose) and Dan Pacheco (Boq). David Nathan Perlow is charming as love-interest Fiyero, and film/stage veteran Don Amendolia is … well, wonderful as the Wizard.

Eugene Lee’s elaborate set continues to amaze, and the production’s technical wizardry is dazzling — from the Time Dragon Clock and flying monkeys to Glinda’s gracefully floating bubble. Susan Hilferty’s intricate and colorful costumes and Kenneth Posner’s dramatic lighting add to the spectacle.

Read the complete review {Via www.tennessean.com}

The Nashville engagement of Wicked will run through November 06 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Buy Wicked Nashville TN Tickets Online. Hurry to grab your Wicked Tickets with the discounts, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Orders over $350!

Wicked is currently performing at Landmark Theater VA and play through Sunday, October 16, 2011.

Here is the smart review by Liz Jewett {Via Richmond.com}

“Wicked” takes the audience in reverse, back to the school days of Glinda and the Wicked Witch, or Elphaba as she was known then. The popular, blonde Glindaand outcast, green Elphaba meet, compete for the chance to meet the all-powerful and wonderful wizard, and most surprisingly of all, become friends. The backdrop to all of this is an Oz in danger of losing all of the color and diversity (and talking animals) that make it magical in the first place.

A lot of Broadway musicals have the lights, the sparkle, and the show-stopping numbers, but very little underneath. It’s easy to create the big, loud experience of a musical, but it’s a lot harder to create the heartbeat underneath it. “Wicked” will blow you away technically and that might be what you talk about when you leave the Landmark Theater VA.

Read the complete review at the above link.

Wicked will be performing until Sunday, October 16, 2011 at Landmark Theater. Buy Wicked Richmond VA Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Orders over $350!

Despite a lackluster economy and soaring unemployment the musical “Wicked” is still defying gravity.

On its third pass through Pittsburgh as a presentation of PNC Broadway Across America — Pittsburgh the show has already sold all but a few tickets for its four-week run at the Benedum Center, Downtown.

The Broadway production continues to sell out most performances, eight years after its debut. The two national tours and four international companies have similar success.

Gregory Maguire’s dark, contrarian tale turns the Oz you thought you knew inside out, exposing the politics, prejudice and personalities of Frank L. Baum’s Ozians in a not-so-merry-old land of Oz.

Dorothy is a minor, off-stage presence in this story that focuses on the coming of age and dawning rivalries between Elphaba (AKA the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda (the good witch) that took place long before Dorothy Gale dropped her Kansas farm house on Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose.

Stephen Schwartz’s intense, soaring music and lyrics allow characters to vent their emotions in ways that connect with audiences. Not everything is perfect, of course.

In the first half Natalie Daradich’s Glinda is more stridently than comedicaly annoying and her perkiness wears thin fast. You do grow to feel sympathy for her more mature and resigned second act adult personality.

As the third point in the love triangle David Nathan Perlow’s appealing Fiyero makes the greatest journey from arch playboy to committed revolutionary.

Winnie Holzman’s stage adaptation of Maguire’s novel streamlines the story so that it’s accessible without dumbing it down or eliminating Maguire’s more serious messages. Moreover “Wicked” continues to deliver value for the money.

The producers and creative team have bejeweled and bedazzled the story with an overlay of glittery, glowing candy for the eye and ear. More importantly it’s a well-maintained production that holds up despite its time on the road.

Set designer Eugene Lee, lighting designer Kenneth Posner and costume designer Susan Hilferty create an lavish alternate universe that alternates between turning ominous cogs and wheels of clockwork gadgetry and the upbeat sparkle of a brightly antiseptic yet splendiferous greenified Emerald City.

Treachery, betrayal, love triangles and political skullduggery thrive against a background of menacing cogs and wheels while a humungous red-eyed dragon hovers over the proceedings.

Read the complete review {Via PittsburghLive.com}

Wicked will be performing in Pittsburgh, PA till October 02, 2011. Buy Wicked Benedum Center Tickets Online, Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 off on Orders over $350!

Wicked Musical have flown into Shea’s Performing Arts Center Last week in Buffalo, and you can see this Fantastic Musical till May 22nd.

Darwin McPherson, theater critic for Buffalo Spree Magazine, stopped by “Eyewitness News This Morning” Thursday to talk with Mike Randall about the show.

Check the below video for complete review on Wicked Musical playing at Buffalo, NY:

Wicked performing April 27 through May 22 at Shea’s Performing Arts Center and is part of the M&T Bank Broadway Series. Good seats are still available. Buy Wicked Buffalo NY Tickets – Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Orders over $350!

If you’re a fan of The Wizard of Oz, then Wicked is the must see equivalent in musical form. Though the story is different, many of the same characters are dealt with, and this musical is fun, romantic, and creative.

While The Wizard of Oz focuses on Dorothy Gale and her trip to the magical land of Oz, Wicked is a bit different. This musical focuses on Elphaba (known in The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda, later known as Glinda (the Good Witch). The musical explores Elphaba and Glinda in their younger days when they attended school together, and the way that it progresses helps to demonstrate how Elphaba became perceived as evil and how this is an entirely incorrect interpretation.

Read the complete Review via TheCelebrityCafe.com

Wicked is currently playing on tour in Eugene-OR (April 20 to May 01, 2011) and Buffalo-NY (April 27 to May 22, 2011). Check out the complete Wicked Tour Schedule.

Wicked Stage Review by Jeff Ritter, from the-trades.com

Read the review below:

I’ve been privileged to see Grease and Avenue Q at the Fabulous Fox Theatre this year, and enjoyed them both. But I wasn’t terribly surprised in either case — I’ve seen “Grease” with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John on TV more than a few times and I had heard many of the songs from Avenue Q long before I saw the show a couple of years ago. The second time around was still a blast, but the real pleasure was watching the reactions of the stunned newcomers who had no idea what they were in for.

Tonight I was one of those folks, a first time visitor to the land of Oz brought to life on the grand stage. I highly enjoyed the show and can honestly say I’ll never watch the Julie Garland film the same way ever again.

The national tour of Wicked features Natalie Daradich as Glinda the Good and Vicki Noon as Elphaba, the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. Daradich was excellent, with a strong, clear and high voice, and terrific comic timing. I truly wasn’t expecting Glinda to be laugh-out-loud funny! Vicki Noon was regrettably replaced halfway through tonight’s performance, with Anne Brummel taking over the role of the tragically misunderstood green-skinned witch. Both were wonderful as Elphaba, and the character’s serious, often dour demeanor contrasted nicely with Glinda’s bubbly cheerfulness. Brummel’s lower octaves carried her pathos nicely.

It was great not having any preconceived notions about the musical, because I did not see the “odd couple” aspect coming at all. I never would have thought Glinda and Elphaba were ever friends from the 1939 film. From the opening scenes that find the young sorceresses arriving at a school younger audiences will think of as Hogwarts, to the touching dramatic turns in life and love by the end of the first act, I found myself drawn into Oz like never before, finding ways to dovetail the live performance with my movie memories. Brummel thankfully didn’t overuse the witchy Margaret Hamilton cackle, and Daradich at times was so playful I had to remind myself how prim and proper Billie Burke’s Glinda was. After being vilified in Act One, Elphaba and Glinda fill in the blanks about what was going on in Oz while the movie cameras followed Dorothy and Toto in Act Two.

“Wicked” is at The Fox Theatre through July 11, 2010. Buy now and Save $10 on Wicked Fabulous Fox Theatre-St. Louis MO Ticket Orders Over $350! Code AFF$10.