“Wicked” is closing its record-breaking San Francisco run. The return engagement of the insanely popular “Wizard of Oz” prequel will close on Sept. 5 after some 660 performances in the city where the show was first born.
Theater officials say the blockbuster musical must close to make room for the revival of “West Side Story” and other touring shows in the SHN/Best of Broadway series this fall. So far, more than 1 million theatergoers have seen “Wicked” in San Francisco, and the production, which began in January 2009, has grossed more than $75 million.
For the record, “The Phantom of the Opera,” which ran for five years, still holds the record for the longest-running Broadway musical in San Francisco history.
“Wicked,” dubbed the “best musical of the decade” by Entertainment Weekly, made its world premiere in San Francisco in 2003 before becoming a pop-culture juggernaut. A girl power revamp of the L. Frank Baum mythology, “Wicked” is based on the popular books by Gregory Maguire with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.
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{Via San Jose Mercury News}
