“Wicked” will return to the Appleton for the first time in 20 months, from October 27 to November 14. The show will be performed at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center.
It is a prequel to the tale “Wizard of Oz,” and tells the tale of Elphaba and Galinda, who build an unexpected friendship before going on to become famous as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch, respectively. The musical, which has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, is based on a novel authored by Gregory Maguire that was published in 1995.
Since its first performance on the Broadway stage in 2003, “Wicked” has won plenty of awards and established itself as a fan favourite, resulting in a more than 15-year run on Broadway, two national tours, and a slew of international performances.
This is the first national Broadway tour to continue after the epidemic, with the show reopening in Dallas on August 3. Wicked Appleton will be the fourth site on tour.
‘Wicked’ has remained famous for over twenty years, according to Talia Suskauer, who plays Elphaba, because of the show’s ability to interact with people from all walks of life.
Suskauer credits the show’s success to its moving storyline, relatable characters, “transcendent” music, and the inclusion of important ideas throughout the performance.
When it came to the actors, one benefit of the extended time away from the stage was the opportunity to have full-cast rehearsals before restarting the tour, which was unusual for a musical that had been on the street nonstop for so many years, according to Wisconsin native Curt Hansen, who plays Fiyero, the witches’ shared love interest.
For Hansen, who first performed Fiyero in a national tour of “Wicked” in 2013, resuming his role after a long period of time away from the show was not unusual. Since then, he has been in Wicked in New York and around the country, as well as the national tour of “Kinky Boots.” In 2017, he played the main role in “Wicked.”
“I’ve been performing the show on and off for almost eight years,” Hansen, a native of Hartford, said of his involvement. “Then there were a number of really long breaks in between, including one when I was forced to kind of step into the position after two years with just a 24-hour notice. As a result, the fact that we have rehearsal is very beneficial.”
