Still Popular: WICKED On Broadway at 20

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/24/23 at 9:13am

https://www.vulture.com/article/wicked-broadway-kristin-chenoweth-idina-menzel-interview.html

For Wicked’s 20th birthday, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel reunite with Vulture to talk about high notes, low rumors, and onstage emergencies.

There’s something familiar about watching Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have a conversation — the way that one of them tends to be a bubbling extrovert, the other more introspective but observant and ready with a joke. After a long day in workshops for their respective musical projects, the two of them slip into the familiar language of longtime collaborators, with inside jokes and catch-ups. You may have seen it onstage before, in a musical called Wicked.

When that show opened on Broadway on October 30, 2003, Chenoweth originated the role of Galinda/Glinda, the perky good witch with hidden insecurities, and Menzel played Elphaba, the outcast turned green wicked witch. The show, based on Gregory Maguire’s prequel to The Wizard of Oz, with a book by Winnie Holzman, songs by Stephen Schwartz, and directed by Joe Mantello, was an expensive, effects-heavy production, coming to New York after a very long development. The reviews were middling to negative. But there was something in its spectacle, its music, and especially that friendship between Glinda and Elphaba, and hordes of fans, especially young women, began making their way to the Gershwin Theatre, and still do. A whole generation of actresses have succeeded them in those parts onstage and will soon do so onscreen with the long-in-the-works film adaptation — and in other musicals clearly inspired by Wicked, most notably Frozen. “I’m always so proud of what Idina and I laid down,” Chenoweth says. “So many women have done so well in those roles. That means that we did our jobs.”

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 10/24/23 at 12:25pm

Lovely article and a great accompanying photograph. As someone who was 15 when Wicked opened and saw it shortly thereafter (in December of '03), this article brought back a lot of really nice memories of that time in my life when I was first really discovering theater and falling in love with it (and, subsequently, discovering this board!). I've seen Wicked countless times over the years and will happily discuss it's many shortcomings, but I'll aways have a soft spot for it. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/24/23 at 12:32pm

They just released a ton of rear orchestra seats for Monday night, all $317.70 with fees.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/24/23 at 12:54pm

Wow! Congrats. I remember going to a preview all those years ago. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:08pm

Available at the Playbill store:

[Robbie2]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:27pm

Wicked Original Stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel Reunite at 20th Anniversary of Broadway Hit Two decades after originating the roles of Glinda and Elphaba, the actresses returned to Oz Monday night to celebrate a milestone

https://people.com/kristin-chenoweth-idina-menzel-wicked-20th-anniversary-performance-broadway-8384199

 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 10/30/23 at 11:38pm

I cannot get over the Playbill from tonight! It's gorgeous! Will definitley need to track one down. 

[mshalo18]

Posted: 10/31/23 at 12:08am

The show was absolutely amazing tonight- what a thrill to have been there.

Here’s to 20 more years!! 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/31/23 at 6:50am

Not sure about the 10/30 playbill yet, but both 10/29 bills and the October ‘Wicked 20’ playbill are all available on the Playbill store!