Wicked the Musical in San Francisco 2010

Wicked Tickets Orpheum San Francisco &
Wicked San Francisco history

ON THIS PAGE you'll find Wicked tickets, cast info, history, reviews, and more.

Wicked Cast for San Francisco

CAST: Whenever you buy tickets for Wicked musical show at the Orpheum Theatre, you'll get a great cast. The stars are carefully chosen by the show's creative team, including the writers Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, and others. Ensemble cast members are all professional performers who fill the theatre with their amazing song and dance performances as citizens of Oz, students at Shiz, or even as flying monkeys.

Elphaba and Glinda: "Wicked" veterans Marcie Dodd (Elphaba) and Alli Mauzey (Glinda) have reunited to reprise their roles for the rest of the Orpheum run - through September 5th. They have played the witches on Broadway and Marcie played Elphaba on tour. (As of June 29, 2010)

OTHERS: Jody Gelb as Madame Morrible, Tom McGowan as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Nicolas Dromard as Fiyero, Paul Slade Smith as Doctor Dillamond, Deedee Magno Hall as Nessarose and Etai BenShlomo as Boq. [SCROLL UP FOR TICKETS]

WICKED'S STORY: For the full story of the Wicked creative team's challenges in San Francisco and as they fixed the show for Broadway, see the new book Defying Gravity. Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked. This book include 150 pages on the making of Wicked, including such chapters as "Shock At First Sight" about the writer's early experiences of seeing Wicked in technical rehearsals in San Francisco. About the book, Stephen Schwartz comments: "This is an honest, detailed, and well-told account of how Wicked made its journey, complete with inspirations and speed bumps. I'm delighted at how accurately Carol de Giere has captured the experience of the making of Wicked."

WICKED IN SAN FRANCISCO

The blockbuster musical Wicked had its pre-Broadway world premiere at the Curran Theatre in 2003. It is currently playing in the city where it was born. When it closes on Septmeber 5, 2010, the production will have played 660 performances and 12 previews.

• Below: Wicked history: Changes made to Wicked since 2003 San Francisco production
• Below: Wicked Reviews and articles on the original San Francisco pre-Broadway production (2003)
• Our Wicked index of 50 Wicked-related pages

Changes to Wicked from San Francisco 2003 to Broadway

For the full story of the Wicked creative team's challenges in San Francisco and as they fixed the show for Broadway, see the new book Defying Gravity. Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked.

For another report see an article reprinted from Theatre Bay Area magazine that includes comments from Winnie Holzman, Schwartz, Carol de Giere, and others. "There's No Place Like Home: Wicked Returns to San Francisco"

Stephen Schwartz wrote "Dancing Through Life" in the middle of the San Francisco run to replace "Which Way's the Party," which didn't seem to convey what he wanted to communicate about Fiyero. "Dancing Through Life" lyrics and Schwartz's comments

From interview with Wicked's bookwriter Winnie Holzman: "Stephen [Schwartz] wisely had insisted on having three months to rewrite in-between the time we closed in San Francisco and when we were to go back into rehearsals in New York. That was crucial; that was the thing that made the biggest difference in the life of the show. That time is what made the show work.

"Friends of mine who saw both [the San Francisco and Broadway editions] couldn't tell what I'd rewritten. But I rewrote on every page. And Stephen wrote new songs. We rewrote very, very carefully, so as not to disturb the things that were working. Kristin landed perfectly in San Francisco, but Idina's character was not quite coming forward — and we knew it was in the writing, not in Idina's acting. We addressed that. A lot of it had to do with her very first scenes."

WICKED SHOP includes T-shirts with some of San Francisco's famous landmarks

Now there are two designs for Wicked San Francisco tee shirts. One has "There's No Place Like Home" on the front with the Trans America building tower. The other includes a bridge image. "San Francisco Bridge Tee." See the Apparel section at: The Ozdust Boutique: The only official source for WICKED THE MUSICAL merchandise

Wicked San Francisco Reviews

Monday, February 9, 2009. San Francisco Chronicle writer David Wiegand praises the performances and show. Orpheum brings green back in 'Wicked' return - SFgate

Pat Craig describes the leads as "flat-out incredible, with voices that must be heard to be believed and acting chops that squeeze every bit of nuance out of the material created by composer Stephen Schwartz and book author Winnie Holzman," and praised other performances as well.

Freelancer for the San Francisco Examiner Robert Sokol writes about Wicked's messages and fun, as well as examines the performances of the current cast. Wicked Good Fun

Wicked San Francisco assistance for hearing and sight challenged patrons; Translations to Spanish, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.

The San Francisco company of Wicked is now offering D-Scriptive, I-Caption and ShowTrans, new state-of-the-art customer services that provides scene-by-scene dialogue and commentary of the production for hearing challenged patrons (I-Caption), sight challenged patrons (D-Scriptive) and translations for non-English speakers (ShowTrans) in Spanish, Japanese, French and Portuguese. D-Scriptive, I-Caption and ShowTrans are now available at all performances for the open-ended engagement of Wicked currently playing in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre.

More than a word-for-word translation, these three services give patrons the actual dialogue, as well as continual plot and descriptive information that enable them to follow the action, intention, humor and emotion of the show.

D-Scriptive and I-Caption are available for the hearing and sight challenged free-of-charge. ShowTrans multi-language commentary may be rented for $10 per ear receiver, cash only.

All devices are available in the Orpheum Theatre lobby prior to all performances on a first come, first served basis. For additional information, please visit www.shnsf.com, click on ticket info and ADA info.

More Wicked History for San Francisco

The DVD version of this landmark new PBS documentary about Broadway includes, among others, bonus features: "Wicked: The Road to Broadway" (16 minutes) and rehearsal of "For Good." Enjoy interview clips and footage from San Francisco for the colorful production of Wicked. See stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in rehearsal and backstage, Watch Norbert Leo Butz and others rehearse "Which Ways the Party" which was cut in San Francisco, see interviews with Stephen Schwartz, lots more.

BUY IT or get MORE INFO: Broadway: The American Musical - DVD at Amazon.com

Rent it: Netflix - Only $4.99 a month! 85,000 Titles. No Late Fees. Try it for Free! Under browse selections - enter "Broadway: American Musical" to get it. Netflix carries nearly 6,300 Music & Musicals DVDs. Total of all DVDs: more than 55,000 titles.

MORE WICKED HISTORY: It was Stephen Schwartz's idea to turn Gregory Maguire's novel into a musical. Read our Wicked History page for more development stories.

David Stone, one of Wicked's producers says he's most pleased to bring Wicked "home to San Francisco," moving the current in place Los Angeles production north in January. "People ask me what's been the most exciting moment in this whole process, and it really was that first preview at the Curran. We were standing in the back, Marc and I and Stephen and Joe. Kristin got some nice applause with her opening number. Then the back door opens and this girl runs downstage center, this young, idealistic, hopeful, innocent, beautiful green girl. And the audience went crazy.

"It's the same every night, no matter who's playing it. In that instant, they'd understood that if this character was not who they'd always thought she was, the person they'd feared in childhood, but more complicated than that, then perhaps we all are. That's something that can only happen in live theater, that big idea that happens in a flash. And that was the moment we all looked at each other and said, Ohmygod! Nothing has been quite as exciting as that.

 

Keep up with Wicked by subscribing to The Schwartz Scene free email newletter with updates on the show's development and other articles about Stephen Schwartz musicals.

San Francisco Wicked Tickets for 2009 are now available. Regular price tickets at the Orpheum Theatre. The success of the show's pre-Broadway trial in San Francisco hinted at the huge success to come.

San Francisco audiences and critics alike feel a special connection with WICKED, which had its world premiere at San Francisco's Curran Theatre on May 28, 2003. This engagement followed a long development process during which the entire creative team and cast immersed themselves in the musical's launch at the Curran Theatre. From these roots in the city by the bay, WICKED has gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon that has since redefined theatrical popular culture.
Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed September 26, 2008 "WICKED Day in San Francisco," welcoming the international phenomenon back to the city where it had its world premiere. Having just celebrated its 5th Anniversary on Broadway, WICKED's four North American and four international companies have cumulatively grossed over $1.25 billion and have been seen by over 15 million people worldwide.

Wicked San Francisco Lottery

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of $25 orchestra seats will be held daily for Wicked, playing an open-ended engagement at the Orpheum Theatre. Lottery tickets are available for every performance of Wicked beginning Tuesday, January 27 through Saturday, June 27.

Each day, 2½ hours prior to curtain, ticket buyers can arrive at the Orpheum Theatre box office to have their names placed in the Wicked lottery barrel where thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for these seats. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person, cash only. Each person must have a valid photo I.D. in order to participate. Visit official Wicked SF sitefor more information.

To the main Wicked page

Note for those arriving through a search, sometimes Stephen Schwartz's name is misspelled Steven Schwartz or Stephen Swartz.