Ding-dong, the witch is here. Or she will be this fall, anyway.
Madison's Overture Center announced Thursday morning that blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked will run on its stage from Sept. 22 through Oct. 10. That'll be 24 performances total, says Overture publicist Rob Chappell.
Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, Wicked delves into the backstory of a bright, passionate green-skinned girl named Elphaba, unfortunately destined to become The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. And if the show feels like it's been around forever-it opened in October 2003, actually -- well, that sort of instant-classic status is probably why it's won three Tony awards and a Grammy.
The cast of the current national touring company includes Marcie Dodd as Elphaba, Heléne Yorke as her friend and fellow witch Glinda and Don Amendolia as the congenial but tyrannical Wizard.
Tickets will go on sale in midsummer, and though prices haven't been nailed down, they won't be "surprisingly high or low -- they'll be pretty much what people expect," says Chappell.
For those who want the best seats, the Overture is offering a subscription package with tickets to Wicked and three other Broadway shows, which will be announced in April. There'll be a couple of other Broadway packages, too, at different price levels, Chappell said.
And if you want to lock down your spot now, get 19 of your closest friends and put a request in for group tickets by calling Overture group sales associate Heather Murn at (608) 258-4159 or emailing her at hmurn@overturecenter.com.
"You'd be surprised at how easy it is to pull together a group of 20," Chappell says. "Call up a cousin or two -- we can't assign seats yet, but we'll definitely take your name and put you first in line, ahead of the general public."
