Former Glinda Tells Her Story

Former “Glinda,” Kristin Chenoweth recently wrote an autobiography, “A Little Bit Wicked,” that details her life and career on stage. The story follows the former Miss Oklahoma runner up through the stages that led her to the Tony nominated role in Broadway’s award winning musical, which she has been interviewed about time and time again. Here’s one excerpt from Dance Spirit about the challenges of balancing everything on stage, “You’ve got to find ways to breathe while you’re dancing so that when it comes time for you to stop and sing again, you have it,” she said. “To prepare, I do a lot of aerobic activity. Many times at the gym, people will look at me because I’ll be on the treadmill humming.” The multi-tasking helped out as she picked up a recurring role on Seasame Street following Wicked, later joining the cast of West Wing as the public relations Annabeth Schott and in 2008 she joined the ABC series Pushing Daises. 

 

Enjoy an excerpt via NPR or Wicked tickets to see where she started today: 

 

“George Clooney needs to know that he and I are perfect for each other. We would be instantly matched on eHarmony.com. I can already see us in that ad campaign, oozing adorable, giddily telling the story of our first kiss. Happily ever after, cue Chaka Khan, roll credits. He is my Mr. Right. The problem is, I’m still in love with Mr. Writer, a man who is more likely to show up in a “Falls on Ass” video than an “Everlasting Love” commercial. Truth be told, eHarmony would not encourage me to share so much as a cab uptown with this guy. But of course this is precisely what makes him irresistible.”

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 16, 2009 - Post a comment

The Story Behind the Story of Wicked

If you thought discovering a story behind the great novel Wizard of Oz would be difficult (which is the basis for the play Wicked), think what Frank Baum had to do when he created The Wicked Witch, The Wizard of Oz or The Emerald City from thin air. Well, not completely out of thin air, says Conneticut author Evan I. Schwartz, who knows that the Wicked Witch as based on Baum’s mother in law, the Wizard on PT Barnum and the Emerald City on the World’s Fair - which can all be discovered and hashed out via Schwartz’s new book, “Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story.” Just as Gregory Maguire wrote the novel “Wicked,” which was turned into a Broadway spectacle when it first opened years ago and has continued to collect audiences from around the globe, patrons will undoubedtly eat up the story behind the original “Wizard of Oz.” Though Maguire’s story that follows along the same lines of the magic and mystery of the original may not exactly have been what Baum had in mind when he wrote the original piece, it’s been capturing audiences’ attention for years now as today’s biggest Broadway spectacle as Wicked tickets are avaliable today!

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 15, 2009 - Post a comment

Wicked’s Not-So-Costly TPAC Adventure

If you are gearing up with your own Wicked tickets this year via the HCA / TriStar Broadway at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center this season, you won’t want to miss what else is heading up their way as the Tony Award winning play is also saddling up next to “A Chorus Live,” “The Color Purple,” and Broadway’s latest traveling show, “Little House on the Prairie.” The six show lineup will make Wicked seem even more wondering during its 2009 - 2010 season, as Kathleen O’Brien, TPAC’s President and CEO says, “We have a real balance here, a broad appeal to a lot of different people. And when we looked at the shows that were available, we looked at not just the titles, but also the deals. There are a lot of shows out there like Wicked that are expensive to produce. But we wanted to put together a season that wasn’t going to be cost - prohibitive. The more shows cost, the more tickets cost. So we tried to be mindful of what people have to spend, and at the same time, still keep the integrity of the series at the highest level,” she finished to the Tennessean. So if you want to catch a glimpse of the cost affective Wicked this year, you won’t want to miss you chance for Wicked tickets today!

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 14, 2009 - Post a comment

Son of a Witch

Gregory Maguire wrote several novels relating to the land of Oz after the publication of Wicked.  Maguire likes to elaborate on the original take of Dorothy and her companions and tell all about the extra characters, the ones that you seldom hear about. For instance, did you know that the Wicked Witch of the West had a son? It’s true (well, according to Gregory Maguire’s fan fiction), and Maguire wrote a book about the boy called Son of a Witch.

Son of a Witch takes off from the point when the Wicked Witch of the West is killed by Dorothy. Apparently there was a small child hiding in the shadows, one that was left motherless after the Witch melted away. Well, the boy was an orphan who was then adopted by a girl named Candle. In the story you find out all about the Wicked Witch’s son, what it power are, where he ends up, and how he relates to his mother. Check out the book and get even more information on the Wicked back story.

To get Wicked tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 13, 2009 - Post a comment

Wicked Opens in Salt Lake City

On Wednesday, April 8, Wicked opened at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah. People turned out in droves in order to purchase their tickets. Many of the shows are already sold out but at StubHub.com you can still get tickets for the majority of the performances. The musical is not only a great experience, but it is also incredibly popular throughout the US and overseas. It is popular because it is a great show: brilliantly produced, designed, directed and performed. It also tells a story that is endearing, charming and fascinating. This is a great story that you are certain to enjoy when you get your Wicked tickets.

Wicked tells the story of a young, fiery, beautiful…and unfortunately green girl named Elphaba. Elphaba is a girl whose life has been a complicated one ever since being born…green. It begins to look better for the first time when she goes to Shiz University and is recognized by the Headmistress of the school, Madame Morrible, for her wonderful and unusually strong gift in magic. She then becomes friends with Glinda: the beautiful, blond, popular, and ambitious girl who ends up as her roommate due to a clerical error. When you see this hit musical live on stage you will witness how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of West, and how the flying monkeys came to be.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 10, 2009 - Post a comment

The Wicked Witch of the West Was Originally Hitler?

The title of this blog post fittingly tells the story of how the author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire, came to write about the Wicked Witch of the West.  If you visit the Greg Maguire website, you can get to a question and answer page that was written by the author himself. Of the many fascinating things that he talks about, one that really sticks out is the inspiration for the novel Wicked.

Apparently, during the first Gulf War a British newspaper led with this banner:  “Sadam Hussein: The New Hitler?” The title,  mixed with a gruesome incident in england around the same time, had such an affect on the author that he decided he wanted to explore the nature of the origin of evil.  For a while Greg thought about writing about Hitler, but instead chose to write about the Wicked Witch of the West.

To get Wicked tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 9, 2009 - Post a comment

Thoughts on the Wicked Prologue

If you haven’t with you a copy of the Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, you can open up a new tab or go to the Google Books copy of it, available for free on the web. Of course, this is no the whole book- large sections are not included- but you get the whole Prologue “On the Yellow Brick Road,” so we’ll start there with our reading. Okay, now take it all in, Blog readers.

So what do you think of the Prologue?  If you were in a book store and picked up Wicked and flipped through the first few pages, you might bother to read the prologue right then and there in the isle way. Would you be apt to purchase the book, based on the Prologue?  The Wicked Blog thinks that this Prologue serves its purpose well. It introduces the major characters, introduces a small portion of the plot (getting the ruby slippers back) and generally gives a foreboding, trouble-on-the-way feel. The Witch doesn’t like Dorothy or her companions and wants to, at the very least, steal something from her. More obviously, the physical manifestation of the sense of dread and misgiving comes in the form of a storm that is quickly coming over the horizon. What will happen next? You’ll have to get the book to find out.

To get Wicked tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 8, 2009 - Post a comment

Cliff Notes for the Wicked Novice

Are you interested in seeing the Broadway sensation Wicked?  Of course you are, but are you familiar with the original novel titled Wicked, written by Gregory Maguire? While many of the most die-hard Wicked the Musical fans first fell in love with the story and the characters by reading the famous novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, others might have no idea that the popular play was actually a book. So if you’re interested in seeing Wicked the Musical for the first time, we recommend you pick up the book at your local book store or online, perhaps on eBay. However, if you’re pressed for time, we’d like to direct you to the BookRags version of the story. Here you’ll get the basic plot, an intorduction to the world of Oz, and some of the basic themes and issues presented in the original book.

However, we must insist that if you do have enough time to enjoyt the novel before seeing the musical, that’s the best way to go. We only give you the cliff notes version of the book as an easy way to make the theatrical prodiction more accessible, as a study guide to cram before the big night. You won’t get to enjoy the fascinating language and the fullness of the novel, but at least you won’t jump into the thing without any clue.

To get Wicked tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 7, 2009 - Post a comment

Wicked Storms into Salt Lake City

Watch out, Salt Lake City: Wicked’s crop of young witches of Oz are on the fly and are heading straight for your neighborhood! Wicked is set to open in Utah later this week on April 8, playing a 32-show run in Salt Lake City until May 3, when the show will pick up and jet out in the same whirlwind it is about to enter. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!

Wicked hasn’t even opened in Salt Lake yet, but the Broadway tour is already causing a huge stir in the city. Tickets for the production went on sale last April, and theater fans have been snapping them up left and right ever since then. The Salt Lake Tribune has estimated that the current Wicked tour will have sold 60,000 tickets totaling $5.25 million by the time it closes in Utah in May, breaking all kinds of records and putting the show in third place in Broadway touring  productions behind the Donny Osmond-starring 1998 string of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the 1996 run of Phantom of the Opera.

To get Wicked tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 6, 2009 - Post a comment

Wicked Tickets Going Fast

Wicked tickets for Jacksonville, Florida, are defying gravity in the hands of musical fans and quickly vanishing from sight. Those who would like to see the musical, which opens in Jacksonville on the 23rd of this month, will find their best bet for getting the tickets that they want by coming to StubHub.com. At StubHub.com tickets are currently available for opening night, so if you want to see it on its first night in Jacksonville, you should probably act fast and get your tickets from our website today! According to Milt Russos, the executive director of the FCCJ Artist Series, Wicked had already sold 75% of its tickets as of yesterday afternoon, and more are certain to have been sold by the end of the day today.

Wicked has broken box office sales records across the country, and is currently performing two live tours of the musical in different parts of the country. For the many cities that the musical will be showing in, Wicked is the highlight of the year and has been since its first national tour embarked in 2005. In addition to the two national tours, there are also current performances taking place in San Francisco and on Broadway.

Permalink - Posted in Uncategorized on April 2, 2009 - Post a comment


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