Wicked will open at the Dentsu Shiki Theatre in Tokyo on June 17. A German production, entitled Wicked — Die Hexen Von Oz, will make its premiere Nov. 15 at the Palladium Theatre in Stuttgart. The German and Japanese-language productions will join the London company (at the Apollo Victoria Theatre) and the forthcoming Australian mounting, which is scheduled to open in 2008. In the United States, Wicked plays Broadway (at the Gershwin Theatre), Chicago (at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts' Oriental Theatre) and Los Angeles (at the Pantages Theatre). There is also a national touring company.

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.

For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com.