WICKED Comes To Calgary At Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething") based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. WICKED is set to make its Calgary premiere at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium starting June 29, 2011.

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, winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy® Award and 3 Tony® Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz. It 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, costume design by Tony® winner Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Tony nominee® Kenneth Posner and sound design by Tony Meola. 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 and named "the defining musical of the decade" by The New York Times, 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 2011.

Grammy Award-Winning Cast recording available on Decca Broadway. For more information about WICKED log on to www.wickedthemusical.com.

WICKED will begin performances on Wednesday June 29, 2011 and conclude Sunday July 17, 2011. Reservations for group of twenty (20) or more are now being accepted by calling 1.800.889.8457. Tickets for WICKED vary in range depending on performance, seat location and date of purchase and start at $35.00.

WICKED is presented by Broadway Across Canada and is part of a five city tour in Western Canada including dates in Vancouver (June 1 - 26, 2011), Edmonton (July 20 - August 7, 2011), Saskatoon (August 10 - 21, 2011) and Winnipeg (August 24 - September 4, 2011).