But for the record, Broadway has always used the trap door where Elphaba comes up from the for for NGD. On the road most venues don't have trap doors/elevators so in order to have some magic they wanted to have her fly in from the wing. During tech SJB was in the flight rig and it malfunctioned, with one cable pulling her and the other keeping her in place - major ouch for the midsection. So she had to be out for a bit and the plan was scrapped.
It must be getting progressively harder to book Wicked for the lengthy stays it's used to at cities. It seemed to sell decently the last time it was in Tampa but perhaps season ticket holders are no longer adding it to their package quite like they used to.