Kate Reinders Injures Foot During Chicago Wicked Performance 2005/10/14

Kate Reinders Injures Foot During Chicago Wicked Performance

Friday, October 14, 2005; Posted: 06:10 PM - by BWW News Desk

Kate Reinders, Chicago's Glinda has�fractured her foot during a recent performance and will be out of the show for a few weeks.�During Reinders' recovery,�understudy Sarah Jane Everman will play the pink-clad witch.

Wicked, currently enjoying�an open-ended sit-down run, is�playing to full houses at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph St). The production also stars Ana Gasteyer as Elphaba, Kristoffer Cusick as Fiyero, Rondi Reed as Madame Morrible, Heidi Kettenring as Nessarose and Gene Weygandt as The Wizard.

Reinders last appeared on Broadway in the Beach Boys musical Good Vibrations. Previous Broadway credits include Gypsy, Into the Woods and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, her Broadway debut. Reinders, who also appeared in A Year with Frog and Toad, recently picked up a Jefferson Award nomination for her performance as Glinda.

Wicked, winner of 15 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, 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 Witch."

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the show boasts music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin)�and a book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life"). The show is directed by Tony award winner Joe Mantello (Assassins, Take Me Out) with musical staging by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy). Wicked features sets by Tony Award winner Eugene Lee (Sweeney Todd), costumes by Tony Award-winner Susan Hilferty (Into the Woods), lighting by Kenneth Posner (Hairspray) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King).

Wicked opened on Broadway (where it continues to be the top-grossing show) on October 30th, 2003 with Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth as the respective green and pink witches. Shoshana Bean, Megan Hilty, Ben Vereen and Rue McClanahan currently star in the musical on Broadway, while Stephanie J. Block and Kendra Kassebaum headline a national tour that is currently circling the country.

For more information on the Chicago production of Wicked and to puchase tickets, visit www.wickedthemusical.com/chicago/.