WICKED Tour Opens Tonight in Rochester

The company of the second North American tour of WICKED will welcome Jennifer DiNoia as Elphaba, Hayley Podschun as Glinda and David Nathan Perlow as Fiyero tonight, April 3 in Rochester, NY.

DiNoia has played Elphaba in the Broadway, Chicago, Australia and South Korea companies of WICKED. She has also been seen in the Original Las Vegas cast of We Will Rock You (u/s Scaramouche) and in the 1st National Tour of Mamma Mia! (u/s Ali). DiNoia's voiceover credits include Wisemom & the upcoming Fox Animated Film Epic.

Podschun was recently seen on Broadway in Chaplin where she played Charlie's first wife, MildrEd Harris. Previous Broadway credits include Anything Goes, Pal Joey, Sunday in the Park with George, Hairspray (as well as the First National Tour) and The Sound of Music. Off-Broadway credits include Julianne Moore's Freckleface Strawberry (original Strawberry). TV/Film: "Louie," Hairspray (Tammy).

Perlow returns to the Second National Tour of WICKED where he previously played the role of Fiyero. Perlow has also been seen on Broadway in La Cage Aux Folles.

DiNoia, Podschun and Perlow join a cast that includes Gina Ferrall as Madame Morrible and Walker Jones as The Wizard.

The company also features Zarah Mahler (Nessarose), Jay Russell (Dr. Dillamond), Michael Wartella (Boq) and Alyssa Fox (Standby for Elphaba) with Kerry Blanchard, Jane Brockman, Bridie Carroll, Lilli Cooper, Haley Ann Dorling, Michael Drolet, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Natalie Fotopoulos, Dominic Giudici, Lauren Haughton, Zach Hensler, Joel Ingram, Ryan Jackson, Jillian Kates, Becca Kloha, Sam Lips, Sterling Masters, Marissa Miller, Dashi' Mitchell, Amy Quanbeck, Jay Reynolds Jr., Wayne Schroder and Justin Wirick.

DiNoia, Podschun and Perlow join WICKED in conjunction with the tour's opening in Rochester, NY.

WICKED, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney's Enchanted, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething"), is based on the 1995 best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire. The musical is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues)and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How To Succeed...). WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

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.

WICKED features set design by Tony Award winning Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd), costume design by Tony winner Susan Hilferty (Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, Assassins), lighting design by Tony nominee Kenneth Posner (Tony Award winner for The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King). Stephen Oremus is the show's music director. Orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

WICKED has "cast quite a spell" (Washington Post) throughout North America, breaking box office records in every city that it has played, including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few.

WICKED has been declared "A Cultural Phenomenon" by Variety and "The Best Musical of the Decade" by Entertainment Weekly. There are currently seven productions worldwide: New York, London, Holland, Japan, Australia/New Zealand and two concurrent North American Tours. Globally, WICKED has amassed over $2.9 billion in ticket sales and has been seen by 36 million people worldwide in its nine year history.