Los Angeles Wicked Celebrates First Anniversary Feb. 21

By Andrew Gans
21 Feb 2008

Wicked star Megan Hilty.
Wicked star Megan Hilty.
Photo by Joan Marcus

The Los Angeles production of Wicked celebrates its first anniversary at the Pantages Theatre Feb. 21.

Previews for the hit Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical began Feb. 10, 2007, with an official opening Feb. 21. The original cast featured Eden Espinosa as the green-faced Elphaba with Megan Hilty as the curly locked Glinda.

Hilty continues in her role opposite the Elphaba of Caissie Levy. The company also currently features John Rubinstein as The Wizard and JoAnne Worley as Madame Morrible.

In addition to the New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and touring productions of Wicked, the musical can be seen in London, Tokyo and Stuttgart. An Australian production will open in Melbourne July 12, and a Dutch-language version is scheduled for 2009.

Based on Gregory Maguire's novel, 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, after a summer tryout at San Francisco's Curran Theatre.

Tickets for the Los Angeles production of Wicked are available by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (213) 365-3500 or (714) 740-7878.

The Pantages Theatre is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA. For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com.