"Wicked" Officially open-ended in Chicago- Page 2

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:46am

There will be a 10 day hiatus in performances so that the new cast can have technical rehearsals (i.e., reherasing on stage with all the sets, lighting, effects, etc.). It probably would have been better for them to just leave the tour cast here and start the new company in LA, but they really wanted local actors in the show. It will probably re-open June 22 or thereabouts. FYI, last night as I was leaving work I walked by the Oriental and they were changing the marquee for "Wicked", and also put up more banners and posters. Too bad I'm moving to New York next week, I won't get to enjoy our own production.

[Unmasked05]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 10:57am

Ooooooooohhhhhh Thank You

I can't wait to see it.......the closest it's coming to me is Atlanta but I want to see it sooner than that....and I'll be in Chicago anyway so I might as well see it there.

[dneimeyer]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 11:24am

From what I understand, tickets for the Chicago run in April, are already hard to come by.

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 3/23/05 at 11:26am

yeah we already est. that...the tour tickets are GONE..have been since they went on sale..

The Wicked that's staying hasn't even announced the dates/times yet..not on sale...etc

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:22am

Tickets for performances June 24 - September 25 go on Sale April 4th according to the Broadway in Chicago website. They were very smart with this one. They pre-sold tickets to "Wicked" to audiences at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, so by the time they were publically available ALL the good seats were gone. I had the discount code and bought my tickets before they went on sale, and I still didn't get the greates seats.

[PerhapsACreamPuff]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:32am

Ha! That picture of Idina literally made me laugh out loud. It looks like someone went frame by frame through the Tony performance to find the absolute worst moment.

[lds19]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 1:35pm

To answer the questions about what will happen to Little Shop of Horrors, as a season-ticket holder, I called and was told it was moving to the Auditorium with the same dates.
As for seats, since the show is not open for sale to the general public, the only tickets out there so far are season tickets and groups. All season-ticket holders have assigned Auditorium seats (even though nothing was originally scheduled there this season) so we will all get those seats. Based on last year's experience when two shows were moved (and one of them subsequnetly cancelled and was replaced with a different show), season-ticket holders will be sent new tickets in a month or two and the originals will become void (no need to return them).
I also asked if season-ticket holders can use their exchange privilege to exchange to the new performances. I was surprised they said yes - I had expected them to say no since it is a separate company and I'm sure the financial arrangements between Broadway in Chicago and the producer are different for the sit-down than they are for the tour.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 1:44pm

Here's a very interesting article from the Toronto side of things (including discussions that WICKED may return to Toronto next year for an extended 6-month run).


Toronto Star

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 1:47pm

Thanks IDS for the info. I do not mind the Auditorium - the stairs and upstairs lobby have so much room.

I want to again congratulate three time Jeff Award Winner Gene Weygandt on his role as the Wizard and long time Steppenwolf member Rhondi Reed for her role as Madame Morrible.
Updated On: 3/24/05 at 01:47 PM

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 1:56pm

I'm very happy to see Rondi Reed and Gene Weygandt joining this cast - they're both amazing performers and all the more reason to finally spend the big bucks to see this one.

[chasgoose]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 2:14pm

OK, If you go to ticketmaster.com you can already start purchasing tickets to the new open-ended Wicked shows starting June 24th, but you need a password. Does anyone know what the password is?

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 3:19pm

I heard that Kristoffer Cusick will play Fiyero. Is that true? I saw him on BW. He was pretty good, but he didn't leave an impression on me.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:12pm

Wow that article is very misleading. Chicago has hosted MANY shows for OVER one year. Recent shows haven't settled for so long because they weren't even sustainable in New York. "The Lion King" closed because Disney chose to close it. It was sold-out for the entire run. And Chicago is the largest theatre city outside New York. While it doesn't have much in the way of commercial theatre, it certainly has more not-for-profits and regional theatres than New York and Toronto. Mainly, Clear Channel has kept shows from settling down in the city by quickly booking shows in the same venue (mainly the Cadillac Palace) preventing extensions. They entered an agreement with the Auditorium Theatre to prevent the Chicago Theatre from booking that the Auditorium for Broadway shows (The Chicago Theatre has a small stage and the owners had commented that they would probably need to rent another venue for a Broadway show). Ever since Clear Channel took over, the commercial theatre scene in Chicago has been non-existent. You would be hard-pressed to see more than one theatre (owned by Broadway in Chicago) booked at any given time.

[lds19]

Posted: 3/24/05 at 9:46pm

I have to disagree with Fosse76. Having moved to the Chicago area from San Francisco in 1997, the commercial theater scene was nearly non-existent here compared to S.F. (which at that point was four years into the five-plus year run of Phantom). In 1997, Chicago really only had one commercial theater - the Shubert. Both the Oriental and Palace were falling apart and hadn't been used for legitimate theater in years as I understand things. Others have mentioned the stage problems with the Chicago and while the Auditorium gets used for legit. theater, it's really way too big at over 4,000 seats (and let's face it, at over 2,000 seats each, even the Shubert, Oriental, and Palace are all much larger than most (all?) Broadway houses - and large houses don't lend themselves to long runs).

I don't particularly care for Clear Channel either but the last couple of years have been an improvement. And it's hard for anyone to keep the theaters booked when there isn't that much worthwhile out there. I'd rather have fewer shows that some of this "direct to tour" crap that's out there that's never even been close to Broadway.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/25/05 at 10:42am

Yes the commercial theatre scene is non-existent...it's the non-commercial scene that thrives. There isn't a day of the week where a theatregoer can't find something here. Until "The Lion King" opened, "Rent" was the last long-run show we had (and that was about five months). "Ragtime" closed early because of Livent's impending Bankruptcy made ticketbuyers (or rather, potential ticketbuyers) not buy tickets. Before then, Chicago hosted long runs of "Cats", "Les Miz", its own companies of "Phantom of the Opera" and "Show Boat", "Joseph", "Evita", and "Miss Saigon" (these are the one I know of. Each of these shows was here for a year (more or less, except for Rent). That all ended when Clear Channel took over booking for the The Shubert, Palace, and Oriental Theatres. They are more interested in selling subscriptions, which you can't have if a show never leaves. I mean, Les Miz and Phantom, both of which have been several times before, still have longer runs when here than "Hairspray, The Producers, and Wicked (the national tour). If you look at all of Wicked's bookings, you'll notice they are all mostly in Clear Channel venues.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 3/25/05 at 10:52am

Fosse - I thought this was a pretty good year - All Shook Up, Spamelot, Sweet Charity. I saw the JCS which was not bad and Les Miz was fine.

On the Record was garbage.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/25/05 at 3:41pm

This year was decent, but many of those shows should have been here MUCH longer. And Les Miz really needs a good director. People running around in a circle on stage is the laziest, unoriginal, and unimaginative directing I've ever seen...and yes, I have seen "Aida".

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 3/28/05 at 10:39pm

Jeez, that hard of a dance? Diminshes my chance of ever being on Broadway...damn me quitting jazz class!

[Sporkie]

Posted: 3/28/05 at 10:47pm

SS-good call

[lds19]

Posted: 3/28/05 at 11:10pm

Why the fascination with long runs? From the audience end of things, sure it's good, particularly for getting to see extremely popular shows if you're in that city (and if you're not, it could be a long time before a tour gets to you). But from the standpoint of producers and less so, the presenters (theater operators), there's a lot more risk. Many cities don't have a lot of theaters and if one of them isn't available, that limits options for others shows to come (I remember during Phantom's five year run in S.F reading about shows that wanted to come to S.F. once the Curran was available again - no one ever expecting Phantom last that long there). Plus, if you do go into a city open-ended, what do you do when business starts drying up. Lead times for booking theaters for tours can be long - 6 months to a year if you want or need it to be part of a subscription series (although I'll grant that shows that lend themselves to long runs don't need subscription sales to be succesful).

Look at what will happen in Chicago this summer. The Oriental is now unavilable indefinitely with Wicked. The Palace has The Lion King on a long sitdown from early June to the end of July (but will probably extend since that company then has nothing scheduled until early September - and if it doesn't, see my comment about lead times above - where do you put if for a month on short notice). And the Shubert is down for renovations. So until early September, there is no commercial theater available except for the Auditorium (which as I said above, is really too big for legitimate theater).

Even from the standpoint of the company, a long tour that's booked out many months offers more security than a resident production that could close as soon as sales starts to dry up.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/29/05 at 12:54am

Until recently, Chicago has always had long runs. And the argument that the Auditorium is not an appropriate venue, considering it was THE theatre to have Broadway shows in the city (Les Miz, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita, Show Boat). It has near-perfect acoustics, and has hosted Broadway shows since its first renovation since the eighties. Not to mention long runs of Joseph and Rent in other theatres. Let's not forget, The Chicago Theatre, Arie ZCrown Theatre, and the Civic Opera House will be empty this summer. Broadway In Chicago is NOT the only game in town...though it has been succesful at monopolizing bookings. And the Shubert does re-open in the fall with "The Woman in white."

[eslgr8]

Posted: 3/29/05 at 2:43am

ColumbiaMT, Welcome to BW.com!!!
Updated On: 3/29/05 at 02:43 AM

[eslgr8]

Posted: 3/29/05 at 2:50am

This is exciting news for Chicago actors. I think it's great that they are casting with local talent. I'm in L.A., but I have a good friend who acted in Chicago and I've noticed how many top performers out here have Chicago backgrounds. At the same time, there is a disadvantage to a major theater being booked for a long period of time. Here in L.A. also the Ahamanson was occupied by Phantom for 5+ years, and who knows how many shows weren't able to play in L.A., or at least in that excellent venue, during that very long period.