WICKED CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY ON BROADWAY
Today (October 30, 2013) WICKED celebrates its 10thbirthday on Broadway. The award-winning musical theatre blockbuster is currently playing in nine productions around the world: New York, London, Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Latin America (Mexico City), a UK tour, two concurrent North American national tours, and the Australian production playing at the Civic Theatre, Auckland.
Broadway’s #1 show for an unprecedented nine consecutive years, WICKED has been declared “A Cultural Phenomenon” by Variety and “The Best Musical of the Decade” by Entertainment Weekly. It has been seen by over 38 million people across the globe, grossing over $3.1 billion in worldwide box office. Over 2 million people have enjoyed the Australian production of WICKED.
A special 10thAnniversary performance of WICKED will be held tonight at the Gershwin Theatre, New York, to which alumni cast members, producers and creative team have been invited, including Australian Co-Producer John Frost and General Manager Australasia Bernadette Hayes.
In Auckland, WICKED is celebrating the 10thAnniversary by inviting audience members to stay after the show for autograph signings with cast members, and to raise money through a bucket collection for New Zealand’s SPCA.
Auckland Opening Night Gallery
2014 AUSTRALIAN TOUR
WICKED returns to Australia for a 10thAnniversary tour next year, with a cast described by composer Stephen Schwartz as “the best cast since the original Broadway cast.” Previewing from May 7-9 and opening on May 10, 2014 at its original Australian home, the Regent Theatre, Melbourne next year for a strictly limited season, WICKED will also tour to Sydney and Brisbane.
This 10thAnniversary tour stars Lucy Durack as Glinda and Jemma Rix as Elphaba (pictured above), both reprising the roles which shot them to stardom during the original Australian tour. Joining the WICKED Company in his first musical theatre leading role will be Steve Danielsen as Fiyero, while doyenne of stage and screen, Maggie Kirkpatrick returns as Madame Morrible. Playing Doctor Dillamond will be Glen Hogstrom, the role of Nessarose will be played by newcomer Emily Cascarino,while Edward Grey will play Boq.
Image (right): Lucy Durack and Jemma Rix check out Stage Whispers during the original Australian tour of WICKED.
FOR GOOD
In its ten year history, WICKED has made it a priority to give back to its fans and the community, with several high-profile philanthropic endeavours and partnerships. Most notably, the production helped launch the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA), partnering with Mayor Bloomberg to affect change within the theatre industry to adopt greener practices. The BGA grew out of a meeting hosted by WICKED in 2008, which invited all members of the Broadway community – from actors, ushers and stagehands to producers and theatre owners – to discuss what, as an industry, Broadway can do to be more environmentally responsible. The BGA has since gone on to significantly alter backstage and front of house practices at all Broadway houses, helping to make the Great White Way a much greener community.
In 2007, WICKED joined forces with Bette Midler’s NY Restoration Project to transform a neglected garden in Harlem into the “Friendship Garden,” which continues to be a public green space in this under-served neighbourhood. Since 2009, WICKED has also successfully partnered with the not-for-profit group, National School Climate Center, on their BULLYBUST campaign, a nationwide movement that helps students and adults prevent bullying and create positive communities of supporters. Together, WICKED and BULLYBUST created "Stand Up to Bullying" toolkits that draw inspiration from the story of WICKED, and have been used in thousands of classrooms across the US to educate youth on identifying and preventing bullying - for good. Through ongoing workshops and events with members of the Broadway and National Touring productions, this partnership continues to raise awareness and prevent bullying using the universal themes in WICKED.
Additionally in 2009, WICKED’s acting companies – on Broadway, in Chicago, and on two national tours – hosted simultaneous fundraisers in support of Marriage Equality, with proceeds going directly to four not-for-profit organizations that were instrumental in battleground states: Equality California, Empire State Pride Agenda, Mass Equality, and Garden State Equality. In the show’s ten -year history, the Broadway and North American productions of WICKED have raised over $12 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
WICKED Australia partnered with the Starlight Foundation in Melbourne and Sydney’s Taronga Zoo on WICKED Day to raise much needed funds, as well as WICKED cast spending the day at Taronga Zoo to tend to animals. Also in Sydney WICKED donated a dress rehearsal performance to Chris O’Brien’s Life House, which raised over $125,000 for the charity. In Perth, WICKED and show sponsor Hawaiian raised over $94,000 for SIDS and Kids WA at the Final Dress Rehearsal. Across Australia, WICKED responded to natural disasters (Bushfire appeals, Queensland floods etc) to assist a myriad of other charities.
ABOUT WICKED
Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. WICKED is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone, and co-produced in Australia by John Frost.
Winner of over 50 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.
Venue Regent Theatre, Melbourne
Previews 7-9 May, 2014
Season From 10 May, 2014
Performance Times Wed–Sat 8.00pm, Wed 1.00pm, Sat 2.00pm, Sun 1.00pm and 6.30pm
Price Tickets from $69.90*
Bookings ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 111 011
Groups 12+ save 1300 889 278
*An additional transaction fee and/or a credit/debit payment processing fee may apply
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