Amanda Jane Cooper News

Good news! The Broadway blockbuster WICKED will welcome new cast members to the Gershwin Theatre beginning Monday, July 31.

Wicked fans are mounting their bubbles and brooms and navigating the yellow brick road to The Emerald City, (Straz Center, Tampa), to defy gravity with Elphaba and company. For most, this is a yearly pilgrimage to pay homage to their misunderstood heroine. For a very few, it's a first glance at the visually stunning Broadway spectacular.

For over 13 years, the musical WICKED has been a shining example of the biggest and most spectacular shows that Broadway has to offer. However, hiding behind the colorful costumes, the special effects, the familiar Ozian setting, and all of the other trappings of the modern day mega-musical is a much deeper and finely crafted show than it is often given credit for. The show's national tour, currently playing at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando through January 29th, thrives on the tried and true escapism that the show is known for, but with a truly remarkable actress leading the production, the show transcends its base entertainment value to deliver a nuanced, rewarding theatrical experience.

The Wicked tour welcomes Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award-winner Isabel Keating as Madame Morrible, Fred Applegate as The Wizard and Andy Mientus ('Smash') as Boq, beginning tonight, November 22nd, at Wharton Center in East Lansing.

The WICKED tour will welcome Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award-winner Isabel Keating as Madame Morrible, Fred Applegate as The Wizard and Andy Mientus ('Smash') as Boq, beginning Tuesday, November 22nd at Wharton Center in East Lansing.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Delaware, Cleveland, San Diego and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include THE WAR OF THE ROSES in Delaware, ALL THE WAY at Cleveland Play House, and OCTOBER SKY at The Old Globe,  just to name a few.

The musical WICKED is officially 12 years old, but it isn't showing its age in the slightest.  If anything, in the current political climate, the far away Land of OZ feels more real than ever, and the political issues that drive Elphaba to become The Wicked Witch, draw a spooky parallel with current news stories.  That's not to say that this show is all doom and gloom, but rather just an incredibly smart prequel to the much-loved Wizard of Oz with some of the catchiest and most powerful songs ever.  Marry an excellent story with a phenomenally talented cast, fantastic sets and a powerful orchestra and you have a production that continues to amaze even through multiple viewings.  The national tour of Wicked has resulted in nearly 17 million people watching this show, and it's a pretty safe bet that most of those people would like to see it again.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, the Wicked tour has just announced it will welcome Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Kristen Martin as Nessarose beginning tonight, September 7 at The Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend. Check out a first look at Vosk and Martin in action below!

The WICKED tour welcomes Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Kristen Martin as Nessarose beginning tonight, September 7, at The Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend.

The WICKED Tour recently welcomed Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Kristen Martin as Nessarose to the Company. Providence will be the second city that Ms. Vosk and Ms. Martin visit as part of the WICKED National Tour.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in South Bend, Austin, Sacramento and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include THE TEMPEST at The Shakespeare Festival at Notre Dame, the regional premiere of HAND TO GOD in Austin, and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME in Sacramento, just to name a few.

The WICKED tour has just announced it will welcome Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Kristen Martin as Nessarose beginning Wednesday, September 7 at The Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend.

It's hard to imagine this but the musical WICKED is now a teenager. The Stephen Schwartz musical, based on the story of the Wizard of Oz as told from the Wicked Witch of the West's prospective, debuted on Broadway in 2003 and captured theatre goers' rapture and attention.

The WICKED tour welcomes Jeremy Woodard as Fiyero beginning tonight, August 2, at the Hobby Center in Houston.

On October 30, 2003, the institution of what we call American Musical theatre would never be the same. This highly anticipated musical hit Broadway running with box office success and two stars top billed. The wickedly talented Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Galinda) were the talks of the town in Stephen Schwartz's new musical. The magical question is, how do you keep a musical relevant and box office worthy in this day and age when rapping forefathers capture the masses? My answer is, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. This show evolves in every way, from the music, movement, costume and make-up design we are taken on a magical journey.

The WICKED tour will welcome Jeremy Woodard as Fiyero beginning Tuesday, August 2 at the Hobby Center in Houston. Just in, the WICKED tour will welcome Jeremy Woodard as Fiyero beginning Tuesday, August 2 at the Hobby Center in Houston. 

If audience appeal is any indication of a show's worth, WICKED casts a spell that has created a multimillion-dollar treasure to the musical theatre world.

The Broadway blockbuster WICKED is easily one of the most popular musicals of the past several decades, and I write that without any pun intended.

With a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by the great and powerful Wizard of Broadway, Stephen Schwartz, Wicked has won over 50 major awards and, as Variety stated, it truly is 'A Cultural Phenomenon." All the elements of great theater conspire and come together in this gravity defying show. Playing now through April 16, Wicked is guaranteed to thrust you into the stratosphere of sheer artistry and visual delight even if you've seen it before and especially if this is your first time.