'Wicked' Breaks Records in Australia

The smash musical WICKED continues to break box office records worldwide when its latest international production opened on July 12 at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.  The production opened to rave reviews and sold a record-breaking $1.5 million (Australian) in ticket sales the day after opening, shattering Melbourne box office records.  The musical currently has advance ticket sales of over $13 million.

Australian co-producer John Frost states, "The fantastic critical reaction and overwhelming audience excitement for WICKED in Melbourne has exceeded our wildest expectations.  We always felt there was a huge audience for WICKED here in Oz, and we're thrilled that Melbourne has embraced this spectacular musical as its own.  We're proud to join the list of international 'Emerald Cities' which WICKED can call home for a long and healthy run, and we thank the Broadway producers, Marc Platt and David Stone, for choosing to mount this spectacular production with us here in Melbourne."
 
The Melbourne production stars Amanda Harrison as Elphaba and Lucy Durack as Glinda.  Cameron Woodhead of The Age raved, "This dazzling entertainment more than justifies the hype.  WICKED has it all – the glitz and glamour and smiles, the anthemic tunes and mind-boggling sets.  It also has a brain."  And Kate Herbert in the Herald Sun proclaims, "WICKED opened to a blaze of green glory and standing ovations.  The show is a winner, a spectacle as only Broadway can create it."

In other international WICKED news, the London production continues its smash run in the West End, having grossed well in excess of £50 million since its London premiere in September 2006.  The production, which recently celebrated its 750th performance, recouped its entire capitalization in early January 2008, becoming the first Broadway musical transfer to recoup in the West End in nearly a decade.  Acknowledged as "the West End's most successful musical" (The Independent on Sunday), WICKED is consistently the West End's top grossing show.

WICKED currently has four companies in North America: on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre, at Chicago's Ford Center for Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre, in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre and on National Tour.

There are currently four international productions of WICKED.  In addition to Melbourne, WICKED is currently playing in London, Tokyo, and Stuttgart.  The London production opened in September 2006 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre; the Japanese-language production opened on June 17, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan; and the German-language production, which opened in Stuttgart on November 15, 2007.  A Dutch-language production is scheduled to open in 2009.

Since its official Broadway opening at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003, WICKED has been sold out at virtually every performance and has consistently been Broadway's highest-grossing show.  WICKED has been called "Broadway's biggest blockbuster" by the New York Times and "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety.  The Washington Post said WICKED is, "a breathtaking success story, of a magnitude the theater has not witnessed since the peak years of The Phantom of the Opera."

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman.  It 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.

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 Witch.

WICKED features set design by Tony Award winner Eugene Lee, costume design by Tony Award winner Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and sound design by Tony Meola.  The orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.