WICKED Opens in Rio de Janeiro, Capping a Boom for Brazilian Musical Theatre
The Portuguese-language production lands at Cidade das Artes after playing to more than 1 million people in São Paulo.
WICKED is now in performances in Rio de Janeiro, bringing the Stephen Schwartz–Winnie Holzman megahit to the Cidade das Artes' Bibi Ferreira hall in Barra for a limited season through September 6, with tickets already nearly sold out.
The Atelier de Cultura production reunites the Brazilian company that has fronted the show since its São Paulo run, where it played to more than 1 million people. Myra Ruiz returns as Elphaba and Fabi Bang as Glinda - a pairing that, by their own account, spent a decade lobbying to bring the show to Rio. "We pulled this off through sheer grit and nerve," Bang said, as reported by Veja Rio, while producer Cleto Baccic joked that the two stars had applied "psychological pressure for ten years."
Mounted on a roughly R$8 million budget, the staging travels heavy: more than 150 costumes, 130 wigs, 35 sets and a 35-member cast, with 38 tonnes of equipment hauled to Rio in 16 trucks. Baccic told Veja Rio the team imported three flying systems from Las Vegas, sending Elphaba aloft "12 meters high, in a way New York has never seen." Roughly 20 Rio-based performers join the touring company.
For the venue, the booking is a statement of arrival. "We've put Rio on equal footing with the biggest stages in the world," Cidade das Artes president Isabel Werneck said, as reported by Veja Rio - noting the hall has previously hosted large-scale titles including The Sound of Music and Beetlejuice.
WICKED's Rio bow anchors an unusually crowded season for musicals in the city, with upcoming openings including Tarsila, a Brasileira starring Claudia Raia at the Theatro Municipal, a new Ópera do Malandro, and the Brazilian premiere of the Off-Broadway parody Titanique.