BREAKING NEWS: Broadway veteran Lisa Brescia has been tapped to join the Broadway company of the Tony and Grammy winning smash hit Dear Evan Hansen next month.
Beginning August 7th, 2018 at the Music Box Theatre, the former Aida, WICKED The Musical, and Mamma Mia! star will replace the show’s original Tony winning cast member Rachel Bay Jones in the role of “Heidi Hansen” (the loving, caring, and struggling mother to the title character). Brescia previously filled in as a temporary standby and covered the role of “Heidi” during Jones’ vacation time off from the show.
Jones (who won a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical) as previously announced will take her final bow on August 5th, 2018.
Who is excited for Lisa?! We will miss you Rachel!!
CAN’T REGRET WHAT WE DID FOR LOVE and FOR GOOD!! Tonight, the smash hit blockbuster WICKED The Musical is setting another record tonight in Broadway history. The BEWITCHING Stephen Schwartz musical will play its 6,138th performance at the Gershwin Theatre, surpass the original production of A Chorus Line, and become THE 6TH LONGEST RUNNING SHOW IN BROADWAY HISTORY. Congrats another milestone WICKED. How THRILLIFYING is this?!
Thank goodness! Wicked will play its 6,138th Broadway performance tonight, Thursday, July 12 at 8pm. With the performance, the production surpasses A Chorus Line as the 6th longest-running production in Broadway history.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: BECAUSE HAPPY IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE…. Over the years, the Broadway community has done so much for many lifelong fans who initially had those lifelong dreams of performing on the Great White Way (even just for one night only).
Back in 2005, NBC’s The Today Show teamed up with the Broadway cast of WICKED The Musical part of the morning news and talk show’s LIVING FOR TODAY segment (sharing 50 things what people in this world dream of). They changed the life of one suburban Mom (also a super Broadway fan and dreamer) who got the once in a lifetime opportunity to make her Broadway Debut in a cameo appearance in the Award winning Stephen Schwartz blockbuster hit on the stage of the Gershwin Theatre. The performance was a huge success, THE TODAY SHOW team brought the lucky woman and the WICKED cast the next morning to perform live outside of Studio 1A in Rockefeller Center.
Here is the suburban mom herself named Cathy Shipley along with the cast of WICKED (at the time featuring the 1st replacement Broadway cast Shoshana Bean as “Elphaba” and Tony nominee Jennifer Laura Thompson as “Glinda”) performing the Act 1 favorite and a song perfectly appropriate for a one night only cameo on Broadway…. ONE SHORT DAY.
How THRILLIFYING and WONDERFUL is this experience for this one lucky woman?
The cast of Wicked, featuring Jennifer Laura Thompson and Shoshana Bean were featured on the Today show in NYC in an episode called “Live For Today”. A lucky…
THRILLIFYING NEWS: Jessica Vosk (Broadway’s Finding Neverland – The New Musical and the last revival of Fiddler on the Roof) is set to join the Broadway company of WICKED The Musical as “Elphaba”. Her first performance at the Gershwin Theatre is set for July 16th, 2018.
Vosk is no stranger to playing the smart, fiery, and very misunderstood green girl that grows up to become the “not so” Wicked Witch of the West. She was actually last seen playing “Elphaba” for a year and a half on the current and 2nd National Tour of WICKED (better known as The Munchkinland Company). Vosk’s performance on the road earned her rave reviews and even petitions made by super WICKED fans to get her to join the New York company (which is finally now happening next month). Vosk also joins the Broadway company at a very exciting time as the long running Stephen Schwartz musical is about to celebrate its 15th BEWITCHING anniversary on Broadway this Fall.
The Broadway company’s current and long running “Elphaba” herself Jackie Burns will end her year long contract on July 14th, 2018.
Who is excited about Jessica joining the Broadway cast of WICKED?
RISE & SHINE FELLOW BROADWAY FANS!!! We are only 1 more day till Broadway’s biggest night of the year. Can you believe tomorrow is the 72nd Annual Tony Awards?! As promised, we are proud to present the # 1 show on our TOP 40 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN. So here we go?
To wrap up NEW YORK BROADWAY TOURS? TOP 40 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN as the # 1 show, we have one of the most spectacular shows ever in Broadway history that still BEWITCHES audiences everywhere. This show takes you to that beautiful and magical land beyond the Rainbow called Oz and you learn about 2 unique figures (a blonde and a green faced girl) that became friends and went on to become Good and (not so) Evil. This is of course Broadway?s biggest blockbuster?. WICKED The Musical. Based on the book by Gregory Maguire and a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the show features a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman.
From the 2004 telecast, Tony winners Idina Menzel as ?Elphaba?, Kristin Chenoweth as ?Glinda?, and members of the original Broadway cast perform the show?s Act 1 finale and signature anthem DEFYING GRAVITY.
WICKED was first conceived by top Hollywood producer Marc Platt who was adapting Gregory Maguire’s acclaimed novel WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST Universal Pictures. At the time, composer Stephen Schwartz was reading the novel and knew that the story would be a unique musical. However after finding out the rights were given already, Schwartz thought of an “impassioned plea” to Marc Platt to collaborate together on the production. Fell in love with it being a stage musical adaptation instead, Platt signed on as joint producer of the project with Universal Studios and David Stone. In addition, Schwartz collaborated with book writer Emmy winner Winnie Holzman expanding the flow of the story about the political, social and ethical commentary on the nature of good and evil in the Land of Oz. They took inspiration from both the L. Frank Baum books and the beloved 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz. With director Joe Mantello and Choreographer Wayne Cilento on board, the show went into many stages of readings and workshops.
The show originally had its world premiere in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre in the Spring of 2003 earning initial mixed reviews (due to technical problems and several moments that confused the audiences). Following the world premiere out of town tryout as the company headed back to New York City, they spent 8 weeks updating the scripts with scenes being cut, new dialogue and songs written, and 4 parts being recast including the role of “The Wizard of Oz” himself.
WICKED officially opened on Broadway in the Fall of 2003 (opening the day before Halloween) at the Gershwin Theatre earning rave reviews and it broke its box office records. The Broadway production continues to run at the Gershwin and sell out every single night. It’s made over $1 billion dollars ever since. The show will be celebrating its 15th Anniversary this October. The original cast consisted of…
Tony winner Idina Menzel as “Elphaba”,
Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth as “Glinda”,
Tony and Oscar winner Joel Grey as “The Wizard of Oz”,
Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero,
Tony nominee Carole Shelley as “Madame Morrible”,
Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald as “Boq”,
Michelle Federer Butz as “Nessarose”,
and William Youmans as “Dr. Dillamond”.
With the Broadway production still open, there have been a huge lineup of numerous replacements on Broadway.
In addition to its Broadway success, WICKED went on to become a worldwide Blockbuster hit with productions everywhere from Chicago, 2 National Tours, London’s West End, Japan, Germany, Holland, Mexico City, and much more.
WICKED was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2004 winning 3 including Best Leading Actress in a Musical (for Idina Menzel). It went to receive many more Awards as well including the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater album.
Isn’t this show so THRILLIFYING?!!
Well, that’s it!! We hope you all enjoyed our selection of Broadway shows on our TOP 40 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN. Tomorrow is going to be a really exciting evening. Be sure to tune in to the 72nd Annual Tony Awards tomorrow night at 8pm eastern standard time / 7pm central time. The ceremony will be coming to you live from Radio City Music Hall hosted by Tony and Grammy nominated superstars Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles. In addition, we will be following along and tweeting throughout the ceremony here on social media.
And of course, be sure to join us on one of our Walking Tours if you are interested in learning about some of the greatest Tony winning and nominated shows from the past years. PLEASE BOOK YOUR TICKETS!!
We cannot wait to do this countdown next year as we countdown 365 days till Tonys 2019!!!
