The first 50 customers to buy tickets to Wicked will be given a copy of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel that inspired the show. The box office opens at 10 AM. The musical, which features a score by Academy Award winner Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, begins previews at the Gershwin Oct. 7 with an official opening scheduled for Oct. 30. Wicked will play Tuesdays at 8 PM, Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 3 PM; tickets range from $40-$100. (Beginning Nov. 4, Wicked will offer Tuesday evening performances at 7 PM.)

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the musical explores the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba. According to a press statement, the untold story of the witches of Oz takes place "long before Dorothy drops in. . . One [witch], born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of a remarkable odyssey in which these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch."

Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, who recently starred as “Marian” in the TV adaptation of The Music Man, plays Glinda, the Good Witch, and former Renter Idina Menzel is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The cast also includes Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey as The Wizard, Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, Michelle Federer as Nessarose, Christopher Fitzgerald as Boq and William Youmans as Doctor Dillamand.