Wicked

[Sascha]

There is a lengthy article in today's Toronto Star about the success of "Wicked" with a few quotes from Winnie Holzman:

[...]
His first wise move was to enlist Winnie Holzman to write the show's book. Holzman is best known as the creator and author of the cult TV series My So-Called Life, which specialized in understanding alienated youth. She, too, was instantly drawn to the character of Elphaba.

"She's the one who doesn't quite fit in," reasons Holzman. "The only green person in the world and because of that she became a figure of hatred. We all know instinctively how hard it is to be different. That's why we try so hard to be the same. We're told that if you just do this, you'll feel normal, you'll feel acceptable."

"Why does that strategy work so well? People are scrambling to get plastic surgery of all types because they've been made to feel that they way they were created just isn't good enough. Glinda sees that you pay a terrible price for being different and so she wants to be popular and accepted no matter what it costs her."

Holzman and Schwartz began writing and by January of 2001 they had a four-hour version ready for a reading at Universal
[...]

http://www.thestar.com/

[Jody Barsch*]

I'm driving out to the Pantages for tickets for when it comes to LA in June. It'll be a nice treat to mark the beginning of summer vacation.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Can't wait to hear what you think of it! I will be curious to see how well the show does without Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel. I think the original Broadway show was successful in large part due to their incredible singing.

[Sascha]

Wicked Breaks House Records on Broadway and in Chicago

For the week ending July 4, WICKED, the musical that tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz, broke house records on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre (where it opened on October 30, 2003!), in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre (where it has just begun an open-ended run), and is fast approaching the house record in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre, where the musical's national tour is currently playing.

On Broadway, WICKED grossed $1,290,478 and filled the Gershwin Theatre to 100% capacity. In Chicago, the musical grossed $1,203,886 and filled the Oriental Theatre to 100% capacity. In Los Angeles, the Pantages was filled to 100% capacity and the gross was an astounding $1,696,000. That figure is just a few thousand short of the house record, which is expected to be surpassed before WICKED's national tour leaves Los Angeles on July 31.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. The Grammy Award-winning original cast recording of WICKED, produced by Stephen Schwartz for Decca Broadway, has been one of the fastest selling Broadway recordings of recent years.

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 Witch.

http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=3863

[annette]

incase any one is interested in seeing it, wicked has opened here in the UK in londons west end, there are some promo videos on you tube as well (the clips are using US versions, promoting the UK version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ZJAQ2ewmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaiwVT1gg7E

idina has come to the westend to reprise her role for a few months, and adam garcia (from coyote ugly) and mirium margolys (from harry potter and baz lurmans version of romeo and juliet, with claire danes) also star in the west end version

[Sascha]

Winnie Holzman will be in L.A. on October 30:

Los Angeles will be home to a new production of Wicked, the Broadway and international smash hit musical. To celebrate, the public is invited to "Wicked Day," a free event, at CityWalk at Universal Studios Hollywood on Monday, October 30 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Parking will also be provided to the first 1,000 cars entering Universal City lots before 12-noon (drivers should mention "Wicked" at entrance kiosks).

At this event, the Los Angeles cast of Wicked will be announced and after being introduced, they will perform numbers from the show. The creators of the musical -- composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, author Winnie Holzman, producers Marc Platt and David Stone - will also be on hand for the festivities. Wicked activities will also include a "Be Wicked" singing contest, a costume contest, games, and opportunities to get autographs or "go green" for the day with a Wicked makeover. There will be Wicked giveaways and refreshments as well.

http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=13082

[Natasha (candygirl)]

This clip of Wicked features Winnie at the beginning - really cute that she is gesticulating while trying to knit!

[Sascha]

Winnie Holzman will write the script for the upcoming film version of "Wicked". The movie is still in its early pre-production stages, no release date announced yet.

Details: http://www.inthenews.co.uk/entertainmen ... 231748.htm

[ikilledkennyandjr]

I'm going to see Wicked in August.

Can't wait! It looks hilarious, with a strong theme of friendship--a tiny bit like MSCL, only, you know, with witches.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

IMDB is now listing the release date as 2010, but take that with a grain of salt!



Can't wait to hear who they decide to cast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they keep at least Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel, but knowing Hollywood they will cast some young ingenues who can't sing like Miley Cyrus.

[Sascha]

WICKED to Become 20th Longest Running Show in Broadway History

On Tuesday, December 15, the Broadway smash WICKED will play its 2,535th performance, surpassing Avenue Q to become the 20th longest-running show in Broadway history.

[..]

Declared "A Cultural Phenomenon" by Variety and "The Best Musical of the Decade" by Entertainment Weekly, WICKED currently has productions in New York, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Stuttgart, Sydney and on two North American tours. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman.

Source: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/WI ... 5_20091214

What a great success for Winnie Holzman. It's a shame I haven't seen this yet. (But I'm just too lazy to drive to Stuttgart )


The movie release date has been pushed back to 2012.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

My husband's coworkers is friends with one of the leads in the traveling company so he was going to get us discounted tickets but we couldn't make it before the holidays. Very sad that I had it miss it.

Great news for Winnie, Wicked, and everyone!

[Natasha (candygirl)]

HA! The show was supposed to close months ago, but they kept extending the run and my husband decided to get tickets as a surprise for our wedding anniversary which means I FINALLY got to see the show, almost seven years later. Better late than never, I say!

Since I couldn't see the show the first time around or when it was on Broadway, I listened to the soundtrack and thought that the show rested almost entirely on the talents of Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (hence my post about this back in 2005).

Seeing the show live is definitely an improvement over simply listening to the songs, but I think some of the spectacle (and there is a lot of spectacle between the lighting and the flying monkeys) covers up the weakness of the music itself.

They did a decent job casting the leads, but I had a hard time watching the actress playing Glinda without seeing Kristin Chenoweth's mannerisms.

I liked the show, but I'm not totally obsessed with it the way I was with Rent, which is probably a good thing.



One really cool thing they're doing is a behind the scene tours called Behind the Emerald Curtain so visitors can see all the work that goes on to put on the show! As a total nerd, I love that kind of thing.

www.emeraldcurtain.com