Even if you don’t consider yourself to be very well-versed in the world of musical theatre, chances are you will have heard of Wicked. Inspired by Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, which was published in 1995, it premiered on Broadway on October 30th, 2003, after a successful run in San Francisco earlier in the year. The original Broadway cast was made up of musical legends: Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, and Idina Menzel – of Frozen fame – starring as Elphaba.
Wicked is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, itself a retelling of the classic 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz.
One of the reasons that Wicked is so popular is the sheer scale of its production. It has been at the Gershwin Theatre on West 51st Street in the Paramount Plaza building in midtown Manhattan since its Broadway debut in 2003. The theatre has the largest seating capacity on Broadway with almost two thousand seats, and Wicked is regularly sold out thanks to its international reputation as one of the top shows to see in NYC. The theatre was designed in an art nouveau style by Ralph Alswang and opened in 1972 as the Uris Theatre before being renamed to honor the Gershwins in 1983. The set is bold, bright – and very, very green. Explore Broadway shows in NYC. Enjoy exclusive deals and access to tickets for unforgettable theatre performances.
