Murney, Kassebaum and Arcelus Join Broadway Wicked 1/9

On Tuesday, January 9, three new principal cast members will join the Broadway company of the smash-hit musical WICKED at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W. 51st St.). Kendra Kassebaum will play Glinda, a role she originated on tour, while Julia Murney, who played Elphaba on tour, will reprise her role. Sebastian Arcelus joins the Broadway Company as Fiyero, having starred in the role on tour.

Ana Gasteyer (Elphaba) and Kate Reinders (Glinda) currently star with David Garrison (the Wizard) and Jayne Houdyshell (Madame Morrible) in WICKED on Broadway, with Derrick Williams (Fiyero), Jenna Leigh Green (Nessarose), Logan Lipton (Boq) and Steven Skybell (Dr. Dillamond).

Julia Murney (Elphaba) was last seen on Broadway in Lennon and received a Drama Desk nomination for The Wild Party. Her off-Broadway credits include The Vagina Monologues at the Westside Theatre, Crimes of the Heart at Second Stage, A Class Act at Manhattan Theatre Club, Time and Again at Manhattan Theatre Club (for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination) and First Lady Suite at The Transport Group.

Kendra Kassebaum (Glinda) was last seen on Broadway in the Tony Award- winning production of Assassins, directed by Joe Mantello. Her other theater credits include Rent on Broadway and A Chorus Line and Grease on tour.

Sebastian Arcelus (Fiyero) recently appeared on Broadway as Jan in Good Vibrations and as Roger Davis in Rent. His other credits include The Full Monty, Hamlet—A Rock Opera, Caligula, Aida, Floyd Collins, and the world premiere of William Finn's Songs of Innocence and Experience.

Called "Broadway's biggest blockbuster" by The New York Times and "a cultural phenomenon" by Variety, WICKED has been sold out at virtually every performance since having its official opening at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003, breaking house records with box office receipts of over $1.4 million per week. WICKED recently broke the all-time Broadway record with a weekly box office take of over $1.7 million.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento, WICKED is being presented on Broadway, on National Tour (currently in the middle of a 13-week engagement in Toronto), and as an open-ended engagement at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre. A fourth North American production, an open-ended engagement in Los Angeles, will begin performances on February 10, 2007 at The Pantages Theatre. In addition, a London production opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on September 27, 2006 and has been playing to sold-out houses, recently breaking the record for the all-time highest weekly gross in West End history.

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 Witch.

The performance schedule for WICKED at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W. 51st St.) is Tuesdays at 7 PM; Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 PM; matinees on Wednesdays & Saturdays at 2 PM; Sundays at 3 PM. The scale of prices is $50 - $110. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, 212-307-4100 (or www.ticketmaster.com) or at the Gershwin Theatre box office. For more information, visit http://www.wickedthemusical.com.