West End WICKED Producers Crack Down on Piracy

As per Miriam Zendle's story here on Broadway World last week, the New York Times reports today that the producers of WICKED in the West End are cracking down on piracy, threatening an indefinite ban from the show for anyone who illegally records the musical live.  This announcement comes on the heels of one fan had recorded the entire musical from their seat and posted it on YouTube.

Producers took to the show's official Facebook page to warn of the severity of pirating show material: "The posting of film and audio recordings from performances is ILLEGAL and strictly prohibited. All such posts will be removed and the FANatic banned from future performances. By honoring this request you will also be honoring the artists committed to creating the magic of the WICKED London live experience every single performance."

Said Executive Producer of the London production of WICKED to the New York Times: "Obviously, there are millions and millions of clips of ‘Wicked,' out there in the ether, which we never challenge."  However, he continued, a bootleg recording "is a very different thing."

WICKED in London plays the Appolo Victoria Theatre, owned by the Ambassador Theater Group. WICKED now stars: Rachel Tucker (Elphaba), Louise Dearman (Glinda), Lee Mead* (Fiyero), Julie Legrand (Madame Morrible), Clive Carter (The Wizard), Cassandra Compton (Nessarose), Julian Forsyth (Doctor Dillamond), George Ure (Boq), Nikki Davis-Jones (Elphaba Standby) and Sarah Earnshaw (Glinda Standby).

Lee Mead will play Fiyero from Monday 10 May 2010. Until then the role will be played by Lewis Bradley. 

WICKED in London has set a new Box Office record for highest grossing single performance of its entire run, taking an incredible £115,690 at the evening performance on Saturday 27 March 2010 (beating its own record of £114,060 for Monday 28 December 2009).

WICKED has already been seen by almost 3 million theatregoers and grossed in excess of £95 million at the UK Box Office since its London premiere at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in September 2006.

For more information and tickets, visit www.WickedTheMusical.co.uk.