Gregory Maguire and Andy Newman Launch The Elphaba Fund for WICKED's 10th Anniversary

On the tenth anniversary of Wicked on Broadway, Gregory Maguire, author of the novel Wicked, and his husband, the painter Andy Newman, announce the establishment of The Elphaba Fund.

The nonprofit family foundation is dedicated to issues of women's and children's health and education, particularly in the third world; to arts and literacy education; and to environmental causes. A family organization, and unstaffed, The Elphaba Fund will not be able to respond to queries or to read proposals; still, it will aim to make good out of making Wicked.

Broadway's No. 1 show for an unprecedented nine consecutive years, Wicked is currently represented in North America with two concurrent national tours as well as the open-ended Broadway production. In its 10-year history, the musical has also enjoyed extended, record-breaking sit-down engagements in Chicago, where it ran for 3 ½ years; Los Angeles, where it ran for 2 years; and San Francisco, where it ran for 1 ½ years. Wicked has cumulatively grossed over $3.1 billion worldwide, with nearly $2.3 billion coming from its North American companies alone.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

Winner of over 50 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good

On Broadway, Wicked currently stars Lindsay Mendez as Elphaba, Alli Mauzey as Glinda, Carol Kane as Madame Morrible,Tom McGowan as The Wizard, Derek Klena as Fiyero, Catherine Charlebois as Nessarose, John Schiappaas Dr. Dillamond, and Michael Wartella as Boq.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com/wicked. For more information, visit www.wickedthemusical.com. Wicked is performed at the Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue.