‘Wicked’ soars past initial records held as highest-grossing musical

Wicked has done it again. Apparently cast and crew of the smash-hit Broadway production were not satisfied with setting the record for highest grossing musical in Los Angeles and Chicago history, as well as the highest grossing national tour in history, because they have set those records at a new, all-time high during the last week of December, according to an article published Wednesday, Jan. 2 at the Broadway World official Web site.

The production, which was created by composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, held previous records in those three markets, and set new ones as follows: Los Angeles Pantages Theatre with $1,949,968, Chicago’s Ford Center with $1,418,363 and the national tour in St. Louis with $2,291,608. The revenues from each of those three, combined with those from the production’s three international shows - London, Stuttgart and Tokyo - hits a whopping $11.2 million.

The Broadway production of Wicked has been showing since Oct. 2003 at the Gershwin Theatre, according to the Broadway World article. It branched out to the Los Angeles and Chicago theaters in 2005 and has an open-ended agreement with LA’s Pantages Theatre. The production is scheduled to open in Australia in 2008 and the Netherlands in 2009, according to Broadway World.

Still haven’t seen Wicked? The musical is a story of the enchanted land of Oz and how its two most intriguing characters, Elphaba and Glinda, befriended each other and eventually became enemies. Now that the smash hit is being offered at theaters in almost every corner of the world, it would be hard not to see this fun-for-the-whole-family production. Check out Wicked tickets right here and right now at Stubhub.com and get all the best deals.

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