'Wicked' Shatters Box Office Records Worldwide

The seven productions of the worldwide smash Wicked shattered box-office, cumulatively grossing $11.2 million worldwide for the week ending December 30, 2007.  In North America, the musical broke box office records in each of the markets in which it is playing – New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and National Tour (currently in St. Louis, MO).  

The musical once again set a new record for the highest grossing week in Broadway history with a weekly box office gross of $1,839,950.  Wicked also broke records as the highest grossing show in Los Angeles theatre history ($1,949,968), the highest grossing show in Chicago theatre history ($1,418,363), and the highest grossing show in North American touring history ($2,291,608 in St. Louis, MO).  Wicked was the previous record-holder in each market.   

When combined with the weekly grosses for the musical's three international productions – London, Stuttgart, and Tokyo – the musical cumulatively grossed $11.2 million during this record-breaking week.  

The Broadway production of Wicked began performances in New York on October 8, 2003 at The Gershwin Theatre.  The National Tour launched at Toronto's Canon Theatre on March 8, 2005 and sold out a seven-week run, going on to break box office records and sell out multiple-week engagements in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston, to name a few.  The Chicago open-ended engagement at The Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre recently celebrated its 1,000 performance, and, most recently, Wicked opened an open-ended engagement at Los Angeles' Pantages Theatre on February 21, 2007.    

The London production of Wicked opened on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.  A Japanese-language production of the musical opened in Tokyo on June 17, 2007 and a German-language production opened in Stuttgart on November 15, 2007.  An Australian production of Wicked will open in Melbourne on July 12, 2008. A Dutch-language production of Wicked will open in 2009.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman, musical staging by Wayne Cilento.  The production is directed by Joe Mantello. The Grammy Award-winning original cast recording of Wicked, produced by Stephen Schwartz for Decca Broadway, has been one of the fastest selling Broadway recordings of recent years and has been certified 'Platinum' by the Recording Industry Association of America.  

"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," explain press notes. 

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com.  For more information, visit www.wickedthemusical.com.