Wicked Broadway Show Tickets:
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Based on the Novel by Gregory Maguire, the music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell) with a Book by Winnie Holzman.
PERFORMANCE TIMES:
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- Richard Zoglin, Time Magazine
"HOORAY! BROADWAY'S GOT A BIG NEW MUSICAL THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH TO RUN FOR A DECADE OR TWO! If it doesn't please you, you're too tough to please. It's funny and touching and full of beans (not to mention child-friendly). Kristin Chenoweth finally has a full-fledged star part that's worthy of her. Broadway buffs have been waiting for her to land a bona fide star part in a successful show. Well, this is it. She sings like a cherub and acts like a damned good actress, and Stephen Schwartz has written her a show-stopping comic turn. I can't imagine anyone in the world have done a better job as Glinda. It's going to make her a star right this minute. Idina Menzel nails her co-starring part with equal aplomb. Not only does she look great in green, but she blends pathos and warmth in just the right proportions. Joel Grey, bless him, is back on stage. Stephen Schwartz has given us the most poignant new Broadway ballad to come along in ages. Wayne Cilento has choreographed with dapper precision -- this show moves. You'll be enchanted by director Joe Mantello and set designer Eugene Lee's miraculously elaborate-looking Kingdom of Oz. GO!" - Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
"WICKED IS STEEPED IN TALENT! As Glinda the Good Witch, Kristin Chenoweth is giving jaw-dropping demonstrations of the science of show-biz aeronautics. She proves that nothing can top undiluted star power. It's amazing how she keeps metamorphosing before your eyes and ears. Her voice shifting between operetta-ish trills and Broadway brass, her posture melting between prom-queen vampiness and martial arts moves, she evokes everyone from Jeanette MacDonald to Cameron Diaz, from Mary Martin to Madonna. She turns one-liners into something so startling that you have to laugh. Chenoweth is the real thing, melding decades of performing traditions into something shiny and new. Be very grateful that she has returned to the stage. As the Wicked Witch of the West, the talented Idina Menzel is a vocal powerhouse and a commanding presence. She will no doubt dazzle audiences. Directed by the understandably in-demand Joe Mantello, WICKED'S cast features gold-standard veterans, Joel Grey and Carole Shelley, and bright rising talents, Norbert Leo Butz and Christopher Fitzgerald. The top-flight designers include Susan Hilferty (costumes), Kenneth Posner (lighting) and Eugene Lee, whose sets are an ingeniously arranged technoscape of wheels and cogs overseen by the wondrous metal dragon that rests atop the proscenium. There are visual and verbal jokes aplenty in this recreation of Baum's enchanted land where Glinda and Elphaba get to know each other long before a little brat named Dorothy shows up. The contrast between the young women, who wind up as reluctant roommates at sorcery school, is used to examine a society that values surface over substance, the illusion of doing good over the genuinely noble act. It goes without saying that you don't have to squint to fine parallels with a certain contemporary Western nation in which artful presidential photo ops win more votes than legislative change." - Ben Brantley, The New York Times |
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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 follows these two unlikely
friends and college roommates grow into very different women: The Wicked
Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.
"WICKED
works because it has something Broadway musicals, so addicted to
facetiousness and camp, have largely given up on: a story that adults
can take seriously. Adapted by Winnie Holzman from the 1995 novel by
Gregory Maguire, the musical reimagines a children's tale in grown-up
psychopolitical terms a lot more successfully than, say Stephen Sondheim
and James Lapine did for 'Into The Woods'. As the Wizard (Joel Grey)
puts it, "The best way to bring folks together is to give them a really
good enemy." Imagine: a family musical that might make the Bush
Administration squirm. Which isn't to say WICKED, under Joe Mantello's
assured direction, lacks funs. The show gets laughs by playing off
famous bits from the movie. It also provides a showcase for two fabulous
Broadway stars. Kristin Chenoweth, the Kewpie doll who won a Tony for
'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,' is a perfect delight as Glinda. In
the tougher role of Elphaba, Idina Menzel is possibly even better, a mix
of vulnerability and feminist passion, with a rock voice to raise the
roof. With an awful lot of plot to establish, the show drags in spots.
But IF EVERY MUSICAL HAD A BRAIN, A HEART AND THE COURAGE OF WICKED,
BROADWAY REALLY WOULD BE A MAGICAL PLACE."
