Something wicked this way comes

June 2nd 2009 12:02 pm | Theatre | News - By Diana Simmonds

Emerald City is in for a treat

Wicked at the Capitol Theatre in September; Ticketmaster 1300 723 038; Qantas Holidays for packages: 131415

CHUTZPAH. You need a fair degree of it to launch a multi-million dollar stage musical into the current economic climate. And John Frost has apparently discovered the source of eternal chutzpah. How else could you stand up in front of an assorted scrum of media to launch one show and first of all get in a solid spruik for your current show?

The current show is Chicago of course, and as he said, it's a great show and doing very well. But he would, wouldn't he? It's true however - read the review on StageNoise and you'll see why I think so.

The business of the day - in the green-lit foyer of the Capitol theatre - was Wicked, the sort-of prequel to The Wizard of Oz. It opens in Emerald City in September and has been running in Bleak City for a year already. By the time it leaves Melbourne's Regent Theatre in August 650,000 people will have seen it. Which means Frost and his partners must be feeling very good about its chances of grabbing a fresh (or return?) audience in Sydney.

Wicked is, of course, spectacular and very big. It has a great story that makes it a classic Chicks' Night Out, as well as sitting squarely in the middle of the Fun For All the Family category. And it has a solid gold cast or principals: Maggie Kirkpatrick as Madam Morrible; Bert Newton as the Wizard, Rob Mills as the playboy prince Fiyero and the terrible twosome of Amanda Harrison and Lucy Durack as the young witches.

Durack told a delicious girly story of how the two - one from Sydney, the other from Perth - were cast in Jeanne Pratt's Oklahoma! in Melbourne a few years ago. They became friends, talked about the Broadway show then causing a buzz big enough to be heard in Australia, and vowed to be cast in it together when it was produced in Australia.

"And here we are!" said Durack. "I'd forgotten all about it, but it was in my journal!" And that's what little girls' dreams are made of.

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