Featuring a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which 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, will play Glinda, the Good Witch, and former Renter Idina Menzel is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
The cast also includes Robert Morse as The Wizard, Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, Michelle Federer as Nessarose, John Horton as Doctor Dillamand and Kirk McDonald as Boq.
The company features Ioana Alfonso, Stephanie J. Block, Ben Cameron, Cristy Candler, Mellissa Bell Chait, Marcus Choi, Kristoffer Cusick, Kathy Deitch, Melissa Fahn, Rhett George, Kristen Lee Gorski, Kisha Howard, Manuel Herrera, L.J. Jellison, Sean McCourt, Corrine McFadden, Mark Myars, Jan Neuberger, Walter Winston ONeil, Andrew Palermo, Peter Samuel and Michael Seelbach.
Directed by Joe Mantello — a Best Director Tony nominee for this season’s Take Me Out — Wicked will feature choreography by Wayne Cilento. The creative team also comprises Eugene Lee (set design), Susan Hilferty (costume design), Kenneth Posner (lighting design), Tony Meola (sound design), Stephen Oremus (musical director), William David Brohn (orchestrations) and Jim Abbott (dance arrangements). Wicked plays the Curran (445 Geary Streat) Theatre through June 29. Tickets for the Curran run are available by calling (415) 512-7770 or by going on-line to www.ticketmaster.com. The musical is expected to bow at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre in the fall.
