Wicked the Musical National Tour 2009

When you hear the word "wicked" do you think of The Wicked Witch of the West? Or do you think about Boston, MA sports fans yelling out that their team is "wicked good"?

If you thought of The Wicked Witch of the West then you're probably very familiar the classic family movie The Wizard of Oz, which has the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch as central characters.

The Wizard of Oz was groundbreaking in a number of important ways. But one the most interesting facts about this movie is that it was the first movie to appear in color ever! If you remember, the whole movie is in black and white while Dorothy is is Kansas. But when she awakens in the Land of Oz, everything turns to color. Remember the yellow brick road? When everything turned to color marked the very first time in cinema.

If The Wizard of Oz resonated with you, like it has for so many people of all ages, then chances are the new musical Wicked will move you as well.

The best part of this is that Wicked has been so popular that it's not exclusively showing on Broadway in New York City.

Wicked launched its first North American tour in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in March 2005. Since then it has visited numerous cities throughout North America. The original touring cast included Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda, Stephanie J. Block as Elphaba, Derrick Williams as Fiyero, Jenna Leigh Green as Nessarose and David Garrison as the Wizard.

The tour was a huge success so another one was planned. This second tour of the United States and Canada is scheduled to begin on March 7, 2009 at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers, FL.

This tour will play until March 29 at the Florida venue, before traveling to Birmingham, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Indianapolis in June '09, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Memphis.

The the production will be heading out to the West Coast. For instance, Wicked will be in Portland, OR starting March 4th and Wicked is in Seattle starting in September '09.

And Wicked is in San Francisco this month. An open-ended engagement is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2009 at the Orpheum Theatre.

And two cities in the great state of Texas will be hosting Wicked in 2009 as well: Wicked in San Antonio in June and Wicked in Austin, TX in August.

Additional cities and casting will be announced later.

In a statement Wicked producer Marc Platt said, "Theatregoers across North America have embraced Wicked, creating an overwhelming demand for Wicked tickets and a wildly successful 1^st North American tour. The upcoming launch of this second touring company will allow us to bring Wicked to markets which we have not yet been able to visit, as well as return to cities which have been asking for a second (or third) engagement".

Keep in mind that regardless of the city in which the Wicked production is showing, or regardless of the particular production, you can be confident that it's being held to the same high standards as the original New York City production.

The actors are all high-caliber, experienced and talented. The stage, lighting and music in each and every Wicked production are also top-notch.

If Wicked is scheduled to be in your city some time in 2009, I highly recommend you buy your Wicked tickets online and see this classic musical. You'll be talking about it for years to come.