Jackie Burns to Join WICKED Tour as Elphaba July 8 in Houston

The company of the first North American tour of WICKED welcomes Jackie Burns as Elphaba on Thursday, July 8 in Houston, TX.

Burns was most recently seen in the original cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Hair, where she was part of the ‘Black Boys' trio and understudied and performed the role of Sheila. Off-Broadway she was part of the original company of Rock of Ages and the award-winning Unlock'd for NYMF.

Burns joins a cast that includes Chandra Lee Schwartz as Glinda, Randy Danson as Madame Morrible and Richard Kline as The Wizard.

The company also features Richard H. Blake (Fiyero), Justin Brill (Boq), Tom Flynn (Dr. Dillamond), Brynn O'Malley (Nessarose) and Mariand Torres (Standby for Elphaba) with Terra Lynn Arrington, Antonette Balestreri, Al Blackstone, Aaron De Jesus, Emily Ferranti, Dominic Giudici, Courtney D. Jones, Spencer Jones, Renee Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Kourtni Lind, Marissa Lupp, Sterling Masters, Kevin McMahon, Jeremy McQueen, Christopher Russo, Adam Sanford, Carla Stickler, Brandon Tyler, Shanna VanDerwerker, Bud Weber, Betsy Werbel, Lauren Ashley Zakrin and Jared Zirilli.

The Houston engagement of WICKED is currently running through July 25 at the Hobby Center. Tickets are available online at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/houston, www.ticketmaster.com/wicked, all Ticketmaster outlets, at the Hobby Center Box Office or charge by phone at 800-982-ARTS (2787).

WICKED is a new musical 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") 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 and just named "the defining musical of the decade" by The New York Times, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently eight productions of WICKED worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, San Francisco 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.