Wicked will play the Chicago theatre for six-and-a-half weeks, April 29-June 12, 2005. Tickets for that engagement will go on sale Friday, Dec. 17.

Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts is located in Chicago at 24 W. Randolph Street. For more information visit www.broadwayinchicago.com.

As previously announced, the Wicked tour will star Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba, Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda, David Garrison as the Wizard, Carol Kane as Madame Morrible and Derrick Williams as Fiyero.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which turned every Oz myth inside out, Wicked explores the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba. The two main characters meet at Shiz, a school where both hope to take up sorcery. Glinda is madly popular and Elphaba is, well, green. By a misunderstanding, they wind up roommates and, after an initial period of mutual loathing, begin to learn something about each other. Their life paths continue to intersect through a shared love, entry into the Emerald City and interaction with the Wizard himself. Eventually, their choices and convictions take them on widely different paths.

With a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked began previews on Broadway Oct. 8, 2003, with an official opening Oct. 30, 2003. The Broadway company — directed by Joe Mantello — currently includes Tony winner Menzel as Elphaba, Jennifer Laura Thompson as Glinda, George Hearn as The Wizard, Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible, Joey McIntyre as Fiyero, Michelle Federer as Nessarose, Christopher Fitzgerald as Boq and William Youmans as Doctor Dillamand. Tickets for Wicked's national tour are available by calling Ticketmaster at (312) 902-1400.