WICKED Flies Back Into Des Moines Next Week 11/9

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, performing from Wednesday, November 9 through Sunday, December 4 at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. Each day, beginning 2 1/2 hours prior to show time people who present themselves at the Civic Center Ticket Office will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then 30 minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the Civic Center Ticket Office, with a limit of two tickets per person.

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.

Called "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently seven productions of WICKED worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, London production, a Japanese-language production, a German-language production and Australian production. A Dutch-language production of WICKED will open in November 2011.

WICKED begins performances Wednesday, November. 9 at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. Tickets are available for sale online at CivicCenter.org and Ticketmaster.com/wicked, charge-by-phone at (800) 745-3000 and at all Ticketmaster locations. Civic Center Members may purchase tickets by calling (515) 246-2300 or by clicking to a Members-only link on the Civic Center's Web site. Groups of 20 or more should call (515) 246-2340

Of course any seat is a great seat at the Civic Center, but you will find the best availability for tickets to WICKED at either of the 2 p.m. matinee performance on Thursday, November 10 or Friday, November 25 or at the 7:30 p.m. evening performances Tuesdays through Thursdays.

As a note to all calendar listing editors, the title of the show is WICKED
(not WICKED: A New Musical or WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz).

TICKET INFORMATION

Call (800) 745-3000 or visit CivicCenter.org, all Ticketmaster locations or the Civic Center Ticket office open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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