Winner Selected for WICKED's Music Director Experience With MUSE/MAESTRA

The MUSE/MAESTRA Music Director Experience has revealed the program’s first winner. PJ Ju has been selected to participate in a three-week intensive that will provide one-on-one access to Wicked’s music team, including shadowing them through rehearsals, auditions, and performance. MUSE (Musicians United for Social Equity), which is dedicated to cultivating racial equity in theatrical music departments by providing support to historically marginalized people of color, and MAESTRA, which provides support, visibility, and community for women and nonbinary people who make the music in the musical theater industry, have partnered with Broadway blockbuster Wicked to grant this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It is an absolute honor to be selected as the winner of the inaugural MUSE/Maestra MD Experience with Wicked on Broadway. Wicked is one of my favorite musicals – for years, the opening chords to No One Mourns the Wicked was our house’s morning alarm,” said PJ Ju. “I can’t wait to peek behind the curtain and witness first-hand what it takes to music direct at the highest levels of Musical Theatre. To be able to shadow the immensely talented MD Dan Micciche and get hands-on experience with the goal of one day landing a sub/rehearsal/MD position on Broadway? Thrilling!”

Future installments will provide similar opportunities with Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, Aladdin, and Moulin Rouge.

ABOUT PJ JU

Music Director/Arranger/Accompanist: Dino! An Evening with Dean Martin (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). Sound Designer/Composer: Hold These Truths(Hope Summer Repertory Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (HSRT, Titan Theatre, SUNY Purchase), Henry V (AUDELCO nom., Classical Theatre of Harlem), Flying Fables (New Haarlem Arts Theater at City College NYC), Armour of Wills (The Beggars Group). Pianist: Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Soloist with the Taipei National Symphony Orchestra (Yamaha-sponsored), Love's Labour's Lost (Arden Party Off-Broadway). Songwriter: Millions of Spotify streams, featured on Spotify New Music Friday Country and Fresh Country Finds playlists and Apple Music Country; Jess and Jojo Siwa’s XOMG POP!1234Ever, Landon Austin Til I'm Out of Stars and Always Yours (>2MM Spotify streams), Kelsi Mayne About Time (SiriusXM Top of The Country Finalist). Juilliard School Pre-College alum Piano/Composition/Asst. Conductor to Chamber Choir.

ABOUT MUSE

MUSE’s mission is to cultivate more racial equity in theatrical music departments by providing access, internships, mentorships, and support to historically marginalized people of color. MUSE aims to challenge systemic acts of exclusion and support musicians as we transition to a more diverse and inclusive environment for all. Through skill building workshops, networking events, and mentorship initiatives, MUSE is expanding opportunities for musicians of color throughout the United States. For more information on MUSE please visit https://museonline.org/

ABOUT MAESTRA

MAESTRA provides support, visibility, and community to the women and nonbinary people who make the music in the musical theater industry. Membership is made up of composers, music directors, orchestrators, arrangers, copyists, rehearsal pianists and other musicians who are an underrepresented minority in musical theater. The organization’s initiatives include monthly educational seminars, mentorship programs, technical skills workshops, networking events, and online resources and partnerships that aim to promote equality of opportunity and to address the many historical disadvantages and practices that have limited women and nonbinary composers and musicians in the musical theater. For more information on MAESTRA please visit https://maestramusic.org/

ABOUT Wicked

Currently the 4th longest-running production in Broadway history, Wicked looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle.  Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.” 

Winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland and China) and has thus far been translated into six languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese.WICKED has been seen by nearly 65 million people worldwide and has amassed over $5 billion in global sales.  

With a thrilling score that includes the hits “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good,” Wicked has been hailed by The New York Times as “the defining musical of the decade,” and by Time Magazine as “a magical Broadway musical with brains, heart, and courage.”  NBC Nightly News calls the hit musical “the most successful Broadway show ever.” 

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman.  The production is directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello with musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento.  Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.