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So much happened before Dorothy dropped in to Oz…Broadway’s biggest Blockbuster returns to St. Louis Fabulous Fox Theater

ST. LOUIS, MO / November 12, 2007 – WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Academy®Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”) based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. 

WICKED is set to make a triumphant return engagement at the Fox Theatre Wednesday, December 12 for a limited engagement of four weeks through Sunday, January 6.  

WICKED is returning to the Fox after a record-setting 2005 engagement.  Curtain times for this limited four-week run are Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 & 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m.   Additional performances are:  Thursday, December 13 at 1 p.m.; Sunday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, December 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, December 26 at  1 p.m., Thursday, December 27 at 1 p.m. and Tuesday, January 1 at 2 p.m. with no show on December 25.

The role of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) will be played by Carmen Cusack, and Glinda (the Good Witch) will be played by Katie Rose Clark.  Playing the role of Madame Morrible will be Alma Cuervo, and The Wizard will be played by Lee Wilkof.

The musical is directed by 2003 and 2004 Tony®Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Assassins, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) and features musical staging by Tony®Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…).  WICKED, winner of 15 major awards, including a Grammy®Award and three Tony®Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz.  It is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz.  One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.  WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

Carmen Cusack joins the tour from the Chicago production of WICKED.  Originally from Texas, Carmen spent 14 years living in London where she was seen in Les Misérables, The Secret Garden and Personals.  Among her many international credits, her favorites include Phantom of the Opera, Grease, Chess and Over the Rainbow.

Katie Rose Clarke is new to the WICKED family.  Most recently, she portrayed the role of Clara Johnson in the Broadway production, live PBS broadcast and national tour of The Light in the Piazza.  Other credits include the debut of Craig Lucas’ new play, Prayer for My Enemy, at the Long Wharf Theatre, as well as Anything Goes at Theatre Under the Stars.

Alma Cuervo’s many Broadway credits include Beauty and the Beast (as Mrs. Potts), Cabaret, Titanic (as the original Ida Straus), The Heidi Chronicles and Quilters, to name a few.  She received an Obie for Uncommon Women and Others and a Barrymore Award for Beauty Queen of Leenane.

Lee Wilkof’s Broadway credits include The Odd Couple, Democracy, The Boys From Syracuse, She Loves Me, The Front Page, Sweet Charity and Kiss Me, Kate, for which he received a Tony nomination.  In television, he has appeared in over 100 episodes including Law & Order, The West Wing and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

WICKED features set design by Tony®Award-winning Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd), costume design by Tony®winner Susan Hilferty (Into the Woods, Assassins), lighting design by Tony®nominee Kenneth Posner (Hairspray) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King and the recent Man of La Mancha).  Stephen Oremus is the show’s musical director.  Orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

The national tour of WICKED has “cast quite a spell” (Washington Post) throughout North America. It opened at Toronto’s Canon Theatre on Tuesday, March 8, 2005 and sold out a seven-week run.  WICKED has continued to break box office records and sell out multiple-week engagements in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few.

WICKED, “Broadway’s biggest blockbuster” (The New York Times) began performances on Broadway on October 8, 2003 at The Gershwin Theatre and continues to be the top-grossing show on Broadway.  WICKED is “good enough to run for a decade or two,” proclaims The Wall Street Journal.  It’s a “cultural phenomenon,” exclaims Variety.  “If every musical had the brain, the heart and the courage of WICKED, Broadway really would be a magical place,” states Time Magazine.

The Chicago company of WICKED took the stage on Friday, June 24, 2005 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre, and the Los Angeles production of WICKED started performances at the Pantages Theatre on February 10, 2007.

There are currently three international productions of WICKED: a London production, which opened in September 2006 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, a Japanese-language production, which opened on June 17, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan; and a German-language production, which opened in Stuttgart on November 15, 2007.  An Australian production will open in Melbourne, Australia on July 12, 2008.

The Grammy Award-winning cast recording is available on Decca Broadway.  For more information, log on to www.wickedthemusicaltour.com.

Ticket prices for WICKED range from $28-$85 depending on performance date and seat location.  Tickets can be purchased at the Fox Theatre box office, all MetroTix outlets, by calling MetroTix at 314/534-1111 or by visiting www.metrotix.com.  WICKED is a subscription offering of the U.S. Bank Broadway Series and sponsored by American Airlines.