Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Wicked World

Wicked World

If you're among my regular Steve On Broadway (SOB) readers, surely by now you know that the Broadway musical Wicked rates as the tuner the Love Of My Life (LOML) and I have adopted as "Our Show."

While some couples have their song, we have our musical. And we make no apologies for it whatsoever.

If you've ever wondered what a major international blockbuster this show has become, consider this -- worldwide, Wicked has grossed over $1.9 billion and it has entertained more than 24 million people, who have seen it in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and Australia. Soon, it will also be seen in Finland and Denmark.

While the musical has that tagline, "So much happened before Dorothy dropped in," so much has happened with Wicked since I last wrote about the show late last year. Here's a rundown on Wicked's global reach, where it is currently playing and where it will be performing:


Wicked - Broadway
Gershwin Theatre - New York, New York

After opening October 30, 2003, to mixed reviews, the original production of Wicked is still going strong.

Not only does it regularly rank as the top grossing Broadway show week after week, but after more than six and a half years, it's also one of those rare shows that still sells every single seat.

Tonight, it will have played its 2755th performance, and it ranks as the 18th longest running show in Broadway history. By year's end, it will eclipse Hello, Dolly! currently in 17th place.

From my own tally, my LOML and I have seen the show on Broadway at least six times, most recently about a year ago when I found the musical still in tiptop shape.


Wicked - San Francisco
Orpheum Theatre - San Francisco, California

Once the Los Angeles sitdown production closed January 11, 2009, after 791 performances, the company moved up the coast to San Francisco, which was home to the initial Broadway tryout that opened June 10, 2003.

The San Francisco sitdown production opened February 6, 2009, and is currently slated to close on September 5, 2010, after playing a total of 672 regular performances.

While my LOML and I never saw the show in LA, we enjoyed a performance at San Francisco's Orpheum last September when Patty Duke was portraying Madame Morrible.


Wicked - National Tours
Currently playing Dallas, Texas (Music Hall at Fair Park) and St. Louis, Missouri (Fabulous Fox Theatre)

The two national touring companies of Wicked are still going strong, typically pulling into a major city (and many second-tier cities) for an entire month.

Currently, the tour schedule for two companies run through next summer in Omaha and Washington, DC.

To date, I've seen the touring companies perform four times: once in Chicago (not counting all the times I subsequently saw its sitdown production there), twice in Minneapolis and one more time in Des Moines.

While the touring company doesn't come with all the bells and whistles of the Broadway or other sitdown productions, the stagecraft ranks among the best I've ever seen in any touring show, and the casts are every bit as good as you'll find anywhere.


Wicked - London
Apollo Victoria Theatre, London, United Kingdom

As the first international production Wicked to open, this production was voted "Most Popular Show" by audiences earlier this year in a special Olivier Award category.

The West End incarnation of Wicked opened September 27, 2006, and enjoyed its 1500th performance on April 23, 2010. The show is currently booking through April 30, 2011.

My LOML and I caught a performance in April 2007. Of all our Wicked experiences, this ranked as the weakest of the bunch. But I readily admit it could have just been an off-performance.


Wicked - Osaka
Osaka Shiki Theater - Osaka, Japan

The first foreign-language version of Wicked opened June 17, 2007, at Tokyo's Shiki Theatre. The Japanese-language production closed September 6, 2009, before transferring to Osaka, where it opened October 11, 2009. The show is still playing.

At the close of 2007, my LOML and I journeyed to see the Tokyo production. If you've never seen an American musical in a different language, it's quite a unique experience. Fortunately, since we already knew the show backwards and forwards, we had little difficulty following it. Since that time, we've purchased the Japanese language cast recording, and it's a real hoot to listen to.


Wicked - Die Hexen Von Oz - Oberhausen
Metronom Theater - Oberhausen, Germany

On November 15, 2007, the second non-English language production of Wicked opened.

This time, Wicked - Die Hexen von Oz (or "The Witches of Oz) was produced entirely in German at Stuttgart's Palladium Theater. After closing January 29, 2010, it transferred to Oberhausen's Metronom Theater, where it opened March 9 and is still performing.

For the first time in our Wicked experience, my LOML and I enjoyed front-row seats when taking in the Stuttgart production over Thanksgiving 2007. We thought this incarnation had some of the best talent we had ever seen in the show, and when the cast recording was issued that December, we couldn't resist in purchasing it immediately.


Wicked - Sydney
Capitol Theatre - Sydney, Australia

Given Australians' penchant for calling their nation "Oz," it was inevitable that Wicked would find its way there.

On July 12, 2008, Wicked opened at Melbourne's Regent Theatre. As the musical's fourth international production, it played there through August 9, 2009, having enjoyed 464 performances.

On September 12, 2009, Wicked opened in Sydney, where it continues to play at the Capitol Theatre and breaking records as the venue's highest grossing musical. While the show is currently slated to close exactly one year after it opened (September 12, 2010), it will continue to live on Down Under. My LOML and I will see the production on the evening of August 18.

In January 2011, Wicked will transfer to Brisbane's Lyric Theatre, followed by an April 2011 opening at Adelaide's Festival Theatre.

My LOML and I were fortunate to see the production shortly after it first opened in Melbourne.


Wicked - Helsinki
Helsingin Kaupungin Teatteri - Helsinki, Finland

On August 26, 2010, the first non-replicated production of Wicked premieres in Helsinki of all places.

Non-replicated essentially means it will be staged differently than the Broadway original with its own production and creative team. And it will be mounted in Finnish.

Currently, this production of Wicked is selling tickets through December 31, 2010.


Wicked - Heksene Fra Oz - Copenhagen
Det Ny Teater - Copenhagen, Denmark

Beginning in January 2011, the second non-replicated production of Wicked takes root, this time in Denmark. Currently, Wicked - Heksene Fra Oz is scheduled through May 2011. This production will be in Danish.


To date, my LOML and I have made over 20 visits to Wicked beginning with our first time at the Gershwin on November 1, 2003. Since then, we've seen the show in nine different venues in five different countries.

Where in the world will our fascination with Wicked take us next? Only the time dragon clock knows for sure.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.

Labels: Broadway, Chicago, Des Moines, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Musical, San Francisco, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Wicked

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Friday, June 25, 2010 3 comments

SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #9 - Wicked

SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties: #9 - Wicked (2003, George Gershwin Theatre, New York City, NY/2005, Oriental Theatre, Chicago, IL/2006, Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN/2007, Apollo Victoria Theatre, London, United Kingdom/2007, Palladium Theater, Stuttgart, Germany/2007, Shiki Theatre, Tokyo, Japan/2008, Regent Theatre, Melbourne, Australia/2009, Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, CA/2009, Civic Center Main Stage, Des Moines, IA)

Introduction: Hard as it is to comprehend that we're already 119 months into this "new" millennium, we are fast approaching the end of its first decade. While we have yet to agree on what exactly we should call the '00s, I'll take a cue from the fine folks at The Times of London and the BBC and henceforth refer to them at the Noughties.

With that small introduction, I'm pleased to present my list of plays and musicals that wowed me the most during that time. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows I've seen over the last ten years, I give you my countdown of my 25 personal favorite shows of the Noughties.

Perhaps it's appropriate that the musical I've seen in nine different venues on four different continents would blow in at number nine on my favorites list. Wicked may not have scored big with critics, but it certainly did with my Love Of My Life (LOML) and me. And those witches? Well, they're cackling all the way to the bank.

Labels: Broadway, Idina Menzel, Kristen Chenoweth, London, Melbourne, Musical, SOB's Favorite Shows Of The Noughties, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Wicked

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Monday, December 21, 2009 0 comments

SOB's Theatrical Firsts Of The Noughties: For The First Time In My Life I'm Feeling A Little Wicked

SOB's Theatrical Firsts Of The Noughties: For The First Time In My Life I'm Feeling A Little Wicked

Over the course of the last decade, I’ve been truly fortunate to enjoy a number of enlightening firsts in my personal theatergoing that have only served to increase my deep and abiding love for the art form known as live theatre. What follows is one of my ten favorite experiences of the last ten years.

As I mentioned in my earlier post about my love affair with Steppenwolf, the other Love Of My Life (LOML) and I have been together for two-thirds of this decade.

It was less than four months into our relationship that we made our first trip together to the Great White Way. A couple months before we had even met, I had secured tickets to Wicked, which was still a half year away from its Broadway opening.

Two days after the musical opened, LOML and I went to see Wicked. I was mindful that critics had been less than charitable toward it in their reviews. But perhaps our excitement over the show began when we arrived and were awed by our fifth row center seats. Our deep appreciation for “The Wizard of Oz” only heightened our appreciation for and enjoyment of Wicked, which is actually much more clever than some critics cared to admit. As we left the theatre, our feet were practically floating off the floor. We loved Wicked and couldn’t wait to see it again.

In the more than six years that have passed, we have indulged ourselves by returning to Wicked more times than we can remember. We returned to Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre at least a half dozen more times. While we lived in Chicago, we saw the first tour blow through as well as the first sit-down production outside of New York; we’ve seen the show there at least seven times. Additionally, we took in two tour stops: Minneapolis (twice) and Des Moines. We missed the Los Angeles sit-down production, yet managed to see it this year after it transferred to San Francisco.

We’ve also managed to experience this phenomenon overseas, first in London, then in Stuttgart (Germany) and then in Tokyo, all in 2007. Last year, we traveled our farthest distance, all the way to Melbourne, Australia, to see Wicked on our fourth continent together. We can’t wait to see where the show will land next so we can add more stamps to our passports .

When my LOML and I last returned the Gershwin earlier this year, our visit was truly extraordinary. We now knew someone in the show who not only arranged house seats for us (which we paid for, FTC!), but also guided us on a backstage tour once the performance had concluded.

We were met by the actor’s dresser, who took us behind the curtain to our friend’s dressing room. From there, our friend took us on the stage of the Gershwin Theatre, which by then was dimly lit by the musical’s ghost light. But what an amazing vantage point to look out at that huge house and realize how much bigger the set looked from there than it did up close. It was a perfect capper to six years of seeing this show from coast-to-coast and around the world, creating memories that will last the rest of our lives.

Some couples have “their song.” For my LOML and I, we have our musical, and it’s name is Wicked -- a show that never ceases to entertain or hold us in its spell and continues to provide that joy, that thrill, always thrilling us like we think it will.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).




In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for every single performance of Wicked.

Labels: Broadway, Chicago, Des Moines, London, Melbourne, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Musical, San Francisco, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Wicked

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Tuesday, December 15, 2009 4 comments

Wicked At Five

Wicked At Five

In case you haven't already noticed, either by virtue of the Empire State Building glowing in green or my posts from the past couple of days, the Broadway musical Wicked is celebrating its fifth anniversary of its Great White Way opening this evening.

Just a month or two into our relationship, The Love of My Life and I first saw Wicked together on the afternoon of November 1, 2003. Some couples have their song. We have our musical.

It springs not just from sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the actual performances Wicked offers, but it's also derived from our innate love for the original "Wizard Of Oz" film. After all, we were practically weaned on it as our families gathered around the television sets each year for what amounted to "event" TV way back when.

But cementing our affection for the tuner is Wicked's inspired twisting inside out of that original tale we thought we already knew backwards and forwards. Together, for the first time, we felt a little wicked in sharing an experience we both heartily enjoyed.

Since we first saw and loved the production from our fifth row center seats a mere two days after it initially opened, we've seen the show enough times that I've honestly lost count. Not only have we been back to the Gershwin Theatre at least another four times to see the likes of Elphaba and Glinda, but I've also been back there for the Behind the Emerald Curtain Tour and Monday's night's The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken benefit performance.

Oh yes, and then there were the performances in Chicago. Not only did we take in the original touring production when it first landed at the Windy City's Oriental Theatre, but we returned to the subsequent sitdown production there over and over and over and over again while living there (and even after we moved away). We even had several opportunities there to see our future friend and Tony winner Rondi Reed perform as Madame Morrible.

Post Chicago, we also took in the touring cast in Minneapolis before venturing overseas to each of the international productions in London (April 2007), Stuttgart (November 2007), Tokyo (December 2007) and Melbourne (July 2008), and you can bet that we're looking forward to seeing more of the world after this show opens elsewhere. Anyone want to meet us in Amsterdam next?

Just as The Love of My Life and I celebrate our five years together, the two of us are celebrating Gregory Maguire for providing the decidedly different, more adult take on Elphaba and Glinda in the first place through his original novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West." We celebrate Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman for transforming that story into a family musical via their original score and book. We celebrate producers Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone for having the vision necessary to bring the show to reality. Last, but certainly not least, we celebrate the countless Elphabas, Glindas, Fiyeros, Madame Morribles, Boqs, Nessaroses, Wizards and Doctor Dillamonds who have brought this story to life around the world.

We salute and celebrate all of you. Here's to another Wicked five years!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Anniversary, Broadway, David Stone, Gregory Maguire, Jon B. Platt, London, Marc Platt, Melbourne, Stephen Schwartz, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Touring Production, Wicked, Winnie Holtzman

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Thursday, October 30, 2008 1 comments