Wicked Smashes Broadway Weekly Box Office Record

For the week ending November 26, Wicked, the musical that tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz, once again broke the all-time Broadway record with a weekly box office take of $1,715,155. 

The musical breaks its own previous record of $1,610,934 for the week ending January 1, 2006.  In addition to being the largest weekly gross in Broadway history, the figure also set a new house record at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre, where the musical opened on October 30, 2003.

Wicked is the highest-grossing show in North America, with three current productions: 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 at The Pantages Theatre. 

In addition, the London production, which opened September 27 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, recently broke the record for the all-time highest weekly gross in West End history, taking in £761,125 ($1,468,971) for the week ending October 28.

Wicked has been sold out at virtually every performance since opening on Broadway.  Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the musical has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento, the Grammy Award-winning original cast recording of Wicked, produced by Stephen Schwartz for Decca Broadway, has been one of the fastest selling Broadway recordings of recent years and has been certified 'Gold' by the Recording Industry Association of America.

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).

"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 West 51st Street) is Tuesdays at 7PM, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2PM and Sundays at 3PM.  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 www.wickedthemusical.com.