According to the show's official website, the hit Stephen Schwartz musical will return to Houston’s Hobby Center for the Performing Arts March 28-April 15, 2007, and Dallas’ Music Hall at Fair Park April 18-May 6, 2007.

As previously announced, the musical about a pair of unlikely witches will play second engagements at Toronto's Canon Theatre Oct. 7-Nov. 19, 2006, and Denver's Buell Theatre May 16-June 3, 2007. The Wicked tour — which features Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba and Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda — begins its run at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Dec. 21. The musical will play the D.C. venue through Jan. 15, 2006, before heading to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on Jan. 18. For a complete list of Wicked tour dates, visit www.wickedthemusicaltour.com.

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, with a book by Winnie Holzman, began previews on Broadway Oct. 8, 2003, with an official opening Oct. 30, 2003. The Broadway company — directed by Joe Mantello, who repeated his duties for the tour — continues to play the Gershwin Theatre.

For more information about Wicked visit www.wickedthemusical.com.