WICKED Announces Performance-Day Lottery

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from January 6 - 24 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time people who present themselves at the Academy of Music box office (Broad St. & Locust St.) will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person.

WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney's Enchanted, Academy Awarrd 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, 9 to 5)) 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 Witch.

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, Man of La Mancha). 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 recrods 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 "the best musical of the decade" by Entertainment Weekly, 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 will open in 2011.

Part of the Broadway Series, a limited amount of regularly priced tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 215-731-3333, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, at the Kimmel Center box office, Broad & Spruce Streets (open daily 10 am to 6 pm), or the Academy of Music box office, Broad & Locust Streets (during performances only). Performances include: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm; and Sunday evenings at 6:30 pm. Matinee performances are Saturday afternoons at 2:00 pm, Sunday afternoons at 1:00 pm, and a weekday matinee on Thursday, January 7 at 2:00 pm.

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