Wicked Returns to Australasia

WICKED, the international Broadway musical blockbuster, returns to the Australasian region later this year as part of its 10th Anniversary Year, playing Auckland for the first time at The Civic Theatre from September 17,  2013, and returning to its original Australian home at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne, from May, 2014 for a strictly limited season, followed by an Australian tour.

Australian cast detils announced.

In the latest Auckland casting announcement, Maggie Kirkpatrick is confirmed to play Madam Morrible, the prickly headmistress of Shiz. Maggie, who created one of the most iconic characters on Australian television Joan “The Freak” Ferguson, a sadistic and corrupt lesbian prison officer in Prisoner – will reprise a role she’s been playing since WICKED opened in Melbourne in 2008.

Maggie has worked extensively with Australia’s leading theatre companies and her musical repertoire includes Irene, Anything Goes, Songs from Side Show Alley, Singin’ in the Rain, The Screw Is Loose, the cabaret Maggie Kirkpatrick...Still Here and the West End production of Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical. Her television credits include All Saints, Blue Heelers, Water Rats, GP, Home and Away, The Pacific and of course Prisoner. Maggie’s feature film roles include Welcome to Woop Woop, Lillian’s Story, Billy’s Holiday, The Night of the Prowler, The Getting of Wisdom and the SBS produced feature With Mother.

As previously announced, the Auckland season will star Jemma Rix, who has toured Australia and Asia as Elphaba, reprising her role as the green witch and Suzie Mathers, with 300 performances in Singapore and Korea to her credit, returning to the role of Glinda, the good, while New Zealand-born stage, television and screen star Jay Laga'Aia will play the Wizard.

Jay – known for his roles as Captain Typho in the films Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – has had a long and illustrious career that includes roles in television shows such as Water Rats, Play School, McLeod’s Daughters, Xena: Warrior Princess, All Saints, Home and Away and Street Legal.

He is also known for his stage productions such as The Lion King in which he played Mufasa and for playing Judas in the New Zealand production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

“To be able to come home with a show that is absolutely awe-inspiring is something that this prodigal son could only dream about. My biggest fear is not The Wizard but the amount of ticket requests from family and friends! Maybe Glinda or Elphaba could whip up a spell for me.”

WICKED is “one of the most successful shows in Broadway history” (The New York Times) and now it is Auckland’s turn to be enchanted by the award-winning hit musical, before Australia is reacquainted with the magic of WICKED.Winner of 35 major awards including a Grammy® and three Tony Awards®.

WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. 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.

Currently in its 10th year on Broadway, WICKED’s North American and International companies have cumulatively grossed over US$2.9 billion and been seen by nearly 36 million people worldwide. Since opening at the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway in October 2003, WICKED has regularly broken box office records, consistently grossing more than $US1.8 million a week. In the week between Christmas and New Year, 2012, it grossed a chart-topping $2.95 million, the highest grossing week in Broadway history.

In London, WICKED had the highest weekly gross in West End history (a record WICKED also holds on Broadway, as well as a North American weekly touring record in both the United States and Canada), and in Tokyo and Stuttgart it again set new box office records. During its three year tour of Australia, WICKED was seen by over 1.5 million people – which is equivalent to more than 1 in 20 Australians.

“We are very excited for WICKED to premiere at The Civic in Auckland during this 10th Anniversary Year of this wonderful production, and trust that audiences there will embrace it as warmly as those inN orth America, the UK, Japan, Germany, Holland, South Korea and Australia,” said WICKED producers Marc Platt and David Stone. “It is a testament to the show’s storytelling power that audiences from around the globe continue to embrace its universal themes.”

WICKED Australia Co-Producer John Frost said, “Right from the beginning this show has been an overwhelming hit everywhere it has played. WICKED is a phenomenon, the most beloved musical of the past decade, and appeals to everyone from 8 to 80. People love it for so many different reasons – some people come to see WICKED for the engrossing story, some for the astonishing sets and costumes, some for the soaring ballads, some for the deeper messages, and some to see the life-affirming friendship between the two girls who grow up to be Glinda the Good and theW icked Witch of the West.

“WICKED is a musical that enchants audiences around the world and right across the spectrum,” Frost said. “I’m thrilled to bring her, in all her emerald beauty, to Auckland, before coming home to the wonderful Regent Theatre in Melbourne, where Australian audiences fell in love with WICKED for the first time.”

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy Award-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and a book by Winnie Holzman (My So Called Life, Once and Again and thirtysomething). The production features musical staging by Wayne Cilento and is directed by Lisa Leguillou, based on the original direction by Joe Mantello.

wickedthemusical.com.au

Images: Gemma Rix as Elphaba and Suzie Mathers as Glinda.

More on Musicals in Australia in 2013 and beyond.