August Tony Winner Reed to Return to Chicago's Wicked

By Andrew Gans
26 Jun 2008

Tony winner Rondi Reed in Wicked.
Tony winner Rondi Reed in Wicked.

Rondi Reed, who won a 2008 Tony Award for her performance as August: Osage County's Mattie Fae Aiken, the overbearing mother with a big secret, will return to the Chicago company of Wicked June 27.

Reed will again portray the evil Madame Morrible, a role she created for Chicago audiences.

A Steppenwolf ensemble member, Reed has also appeared Off-Broadway in Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile and on Broadway in The Grapes of Wrath and The Rise and Fall of Little Voice.

As previously announced, the Chicago company of Wicked, which plays the Ford Center for the Performing Arts' Oriental Theatre, will end its lengthy run Jan. 25, 2009. When it closes, the hit Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical will have played 1,500 performances and grossed over $200 million.

Wicked began performances in Chicago June 24, 2005. The cast currently features Lisa Brescia as Elphaba and Annaleigh Ashford as Glinda.

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.

Wicked features a score by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Winnie Holzman, direction by Joe Mantello and musical staging by Wayne Cilento. The creative team also includes scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Tony Meola, projections by Elaine J. McCarthy, wig and hair design by Tom Watson, music supervision and arrangements by Stephen Oremus, orchestrations by William David Brohn and dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

The Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre is located at 24 W. Randolph Street in Chicago, IL. For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com/chicago.