WICKED Original Cast Recording Certified Platinum

The Grammy Award winning (Best Musical Show Album) original cast recording of the smash-hit Broadway musical WICKED has just been certified 'Platinum' by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of more than 1 million copies. Produced by composer Stephen Schwartz for Decca Broadway, the album has been the fastest selling original cast recording in years, has regularly appeared on the list of Amazon's top-selling albums and is currently #1 on Billboard's Top Cast Album Chart, the position it occupied when the chart debuted in January 2006.

Called "Broadway's biggest blockbuster" by The New York Times and "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety, WICKED has been sold out at virtually every performance since having its official opening at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003, breaking house records with box office receipts of over $1.4 million per week. WICKED recently broke the all-time Broadway record with a weekly box office take of over $1.7 million.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento, WICKED is being presented on Broadway, on National Tour (currently in the middle of a 13-week engagement in Toronto), and as an open-ended engagement at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre. A fourth North American production, an open-ended engagement in Los Angeles, will begin performances on February 10, 2007 at The Pantages Theatre. In addition, a London production opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on September 27, 2006 and has been playing to sold-out houses, recently breaking the record for the all-time highest weekly gross in West End history.

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.

The performance schedule for WICKED at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W. 51st St.) is Tuesdays at 7 PM; Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 PM; matinees on Wednesdays & Saturdays at 2 PM; Sundays at 3 PM. The scale of prices is $50 - $110. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, 212-307-4100 (or www.ticketmaster.com) or at the Gershwin Theatre box office. For more information, visit www.wickedthemusical.com.