Wicked 1st National To End?

[timesboylive]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:42am

So the 1st National Touring Company of Wicked is slated to play the Pantages through 3/15 but nothing after that? I

Regardless of your feelings for this show I have to feel it still pulls in A LOT of money at every stop. Are they closing or remounting another sit down?

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 10:42 AM

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:47am

It's the beginning of the end for Wicked. I reckon they will close the new York show next summer. We should all paint ourselves green that day.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:01am

The Broadway production is still going very strong, so I don't see it closing any time soon.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:07am

It was a joke. Clearly I'm not funny.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:13am

They will remount after 3/15 with a new "company," but it's not clear when that will be. Most, if not all, actor contracts end on 3/15. Emma Hunton (Elphaba), for example, is not continuing with WICKED after the Pantages engagement.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:40am

Wicked 1NT does indeed close after its LA engagement. No re-opening. The 2NT will still continue to tour.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:49am

Yes the 1st national tour is closing in L.A. wicked & the lion king both only have one tour running after having two.. both the biggest hits on tour.. book of Mormon still has two tours running.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:20pm

Jersey Boys also had two touring companies, and now it's just one.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:38pm

I can confirm that there will be 2 national tours still running by early 2016. The 1st will go dark after 3/15 as a new "company" is put together throughout the next year.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:49pm

Are they doing a hiatus where they can rehire people and start their salaries/vacations from scratch like the Les Miz tour did in the mid-2000s?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:58pm

Must have been in The BoCo Alumni Newsletter.

[Dave13]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:15pm

That's too bad. I saw the Tour in August of this year.

Chandra Lee Schwartz did a great Job as Glinda, along with Emma Hunton as Elphaba. Any news on if they will be retained or simply let go?

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:31pm

Schwartz has been hitched to the Wicked wagon for YEARS. The contract ends. No different than any other time a contract ends. When and if they want either woman back, she will be asked back. If the rest of the world recycled with the regularity of Wicked, the pollution crisis would be solved in a week flat.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:29pm

Random question, but when the first national closes and then reopens under different contracts will it still be the first national or will it become the third national?

[SharoninB]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:31pm

At least it was not ANOTHER one of Jordan's pranks

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 7:42pm

I'm sad that it's coming to an end.

http://playbill.com/news/article/two-dozen-witches-and-790-million-later-wicked-first-national-tour-reaches-final-bow-343712

When I saw the original cast in Dallas in October 2005, it was a magical experience. Stephanie J. Block absolutely blew me away with her performance and everyone else was terrific. I didn't go back in 2007 because the Elphaba around that time, Victoria Matlock, was incredibly miscast. I heard the rest of the cast was not really strong either. When it returned in 2010, the cast was very good. The only great part about the show when it came back in 2013 was Dee Roscioli.



Updated On: 3/11/15 at 07:42 PM

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 9:16pm

Do you think its closing to make way for the movie?

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 9:32pm

I doubt that it is closing to make room for a movie, but I would love it if a movie happened. In my opinion, if you they are closing the first national, a movie should be made!

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 9:35pm

it's closing because there's simply no need for two tours of Wicked anymore.

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:21pm

I've always wondered about this - it mentions how the tour opening was delayed because of SJB's injury from an element they decided to remove... What was it? Was it ever used on Broadway? It's weird to think about because it mentions her entrance to No Good Deed, which as always been staged a specific way on Broadway, so it's weird they would try to change it for the tour.

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:44pm

What are the qualifications for their being "no need" to have two tours though? Both tours have been selling out, right? Isn't that reason enough to keep them both going? Or are there other factors? (there probably are)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:46pm

The tours have played most cities multiple times. Eventually that market gets wrung out.

[JamesBroadwayWiner]

Posted: 3/9/15 at 11:59pm

I guess thats true. However, Wicked was just in atlanta for the 4th time and was 100% sold out for 3 weeks straight in a theatre that seats over 4500 (the biggest house that the tour has played or will play). So I think that there is still a market and a demand for Wicked. (Obvoiusly thats why the 2nd tour is still out).

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 12:00am

ohjustjake - According to the Playbill article it seemed like, since they couldn't do the trap door entrance to "No Good Deed" on tour, they were going to fly her in instead and it was that which caused the injury somehow. And because of the injury they cut it and now she just runs in.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 3/10/15 at 12:18am

Not sure most read liza's headband confirm there will be two wicked tours back out on the road in 2016, so this appears to be a restart for the first national tour

Anyone that thinks Wicked will be closing anytime in the next decade on broadway
probably needs to read the grosses and capacity reports

here in the SF bay area:
wicked previewed here in 2003
national tour stop in 2005_ i saw it with Eden and Kendra-fantastic!
I think NT in 2007
eighteen month sitdown in SF from 2009-2010
national tour stop in SF 2013
multiple stops to sacramento
stop in san jose

It is packed every time it comes to the bay area.
There is no "saturation" indication anywhere in this market

It terms of staying power, love it or hate it (I love it....and I love Sondheim and Weill and Brown, oh my!), Wicked will be the Phantom of the first few decades of this century....