Theatre News and Reviews

In a major boost for Chicago tourism, Loop businesses and the Chicago theater community, the producers of the Broadway show “Wicked” are creating a dedicated Chicago company of the hit that will remain at the Oriental Theatre for months—and maybe even years.

“Wicked,” a $14 million musical based on the prequel about characters from “The Wizard of Oz,” already had announced a seven-week stop in Chicago beginning its first national tour, on April 2. But under this new plan—to be officially announced Wednesday at a Chicago news conference by a group of New York producers and theater owners—only the touring cast now will leave for their scheduled date in Los Angeles.

The physical set will remain in Chicago and a new Chicago-based company will take over after a pause of about 10 days for technical rehearsals. “Wicked” will remain open in the Loop as long as there is business to support it.

“We are making a major commitment to Chicago,” said the New York producer David Stone, confirming his plans. “We’ll be there as long as Chicago will have us.”

(more…)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Theatre, Broadway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.