After the floods, Wicked back on

It will be confirmed today (Monday) that Wicked will return to the stage tomorrow, with QPAC ready to host the show again following the Queensland flood disaster.

The return on Tuesday has been hinted at on the official Wicked Facebook page, but producer John Frost confirmed to AussieTheatre.com that the show will indeed be back on the Brisbane stage.

“We are thrilled that the show will be back on stage at QPAC,” Frost said.

“We have been working hard to ensure the season got back on track as soon as possible, so we’re excited we’ll be able to get back on Tuesday.”

Wicked was forced to cancel a large number of performances after the tragedy that struck Queensland this month, which saw rising floodwaters hit Brisbane and impact the QPAC.

Ticketholders for performances that were cancelled should have been contacted by now. Frost hinted earlier that it may be possible to add additional performances to the season to make up for the lost shows.

Lucy Durack, who is playing Glinda in the show, spoke last week about having to be evacuated from the theatre.

“We were in the middle of a technical rehearsal in the QPAC building, which is on the river,” Durack recalls.

The cast were apprehensive about the flood warnings, and for very good reason. The underground QPAC car-park Durack described as “an aquarium”, and they were evacuated from the centre a few hours before the scheduled preview.

“What was very strange about the Brisbane flood, as compared to the devastating flash flooding in other towns, was that it came as a slow, creeping of water,” she said.

Luckily, the cast and crew were able to be moved from the CBD back to their home bases without any issues, and Durack spoke very highly of Wicked’s management of the crisis.

“Wicked did a really great job of keeping us informed as best they could, and although we were told we may have had power outages, we were very lucky. Buildings on either side were without power,” she said.

Meanwhile, theatre stars united last night (Sunday) at a special flood relief concert in Sydney. A host of big names, including Lucy Maunder, Belinda Wollaston, Deni Hines and Marika Aubrey, all performed.