Wicked celebrates performance 500

Last night Wicked celebrated the milestone of 500 performances in Australia.

Opening at Melbourne’s Regent Theatre in July 2008, the musical played for 13 months in Melbourne where it broke many records. The musical had the longest season ever at the Regent Theatre, took a record of more than $2.3 million in advance bookings in just three hours on February 12, 2008 and on the Monday after it opened, smashed the one-day box office record for all Melbourne theatres with a $1.5 million ticket sales.

Since opening at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on September 5, 2009, Wicked has achieved huge success. The show has broken all previous weekly box office records for a musical at the Capitol Theatre, grossing $1,473,775.70 in one week. At last night’s show, Tuesday, October 27 at 8pm, performance number 500 was reached.

Since it opened in Australia, Wicked has been seen by more than 750,000 people and been presented with six Helpmann Awards, including Best Musical.

Australian Co-Producer of Wicked, John Frost, is thrilled that his production has reached this landmark.

“Australian audiences have fallen under the magical spell of Wicked,” he said.

“This show is a phenomenon, quite unlike any other musical, and appeals to people of all ages. I know that many people who have never before been to the theatre have come along and loved it. And many Wicked fans have come back time and time again to see the spectacle. I’d like to thank audiences for helping us reach the milestone of 500 performances, as well as everyone who has worked on the show over the past 15 months. Bookings are very strong in Sydney and we hope to be here for a long time.”

The current Wicked cast is: Amanda Harrison, Lucy Durack, Rob Mills, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Bert Newton, Penny McNamee, Rodney Dobson, James Smith, Ross Hannaford, Anthony Costanzo, Todd Hampton, Ryan Sheppard, Nathan Carter, Robert Jeffery, Sam Marks, Michael Snell, Shane Stepian, Romina Villafranca, Deanna O’Leary, Liz Stiles, Christina Tan, Zoe Gertz, Melanie Hawkins, Ellen Simpson, Johanna Allen, James Maxfield, Matthew Hamilton, Alex Rogers, Emma Delmenico, Suzanne Steele, Renee Armstrong, Taneel Van Zyl, Jemma Rix and Erin Hasan.