'Wicked' will be part of upcoming Celebrity Attractions season
BY JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
1/22/13 at 2:56 PM
Something “Wicked” this way comes.
The Tony Award-winning musical about the land of Oz before Dorothy dropped in will return to Tulsa as a special addition to Celebrity Attractions’ 2013-14 season.
Celebrity Attractions’ season will feature Tulsa premieres of the stage musical versions of “Sister Act” and “White Christmas,” along with performances by Blue Man Group, a concert featuring the best-loved songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber and a return of the Tony Award-winning “Chicago.”
Celebrity Attractions President Larry Payton announced the season Tuesday at a press conference in the Tulsa PAC lobby.
The event included appearances by Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox, stars of the Broadway-bound touring production of “Jekyll and Hyde” that opened Tuesday at the PAC.
Blue Man Group has been a phenomenon on Broadway and around the world since it was created by a trio of performers in 1987. The show’s mix of humor both subtle and slapstick, inventive music performed on the most unconventional of objects, and high-tech theatricality appeals to all ages. Tulsa performances of the Blue Man Group are set for Sept. 10-15.
Based on the 1954 film that starred Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, “White Christmas” features some of Irving Berlin’s most famous songs — “Blue Skies,” “I Love a Piano,” “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” “How Deep is the Ocean?” “Count Your Blessings,” and the classic title song.
“Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” will be presented Nov. 12-17.
“Chicago” returns to Tulsa with performances set for Jan. 21-26, 2014. Originally created in 1975, when it was eclipsed by the runaway success that season of “A Chorus Line,” this John Kander-Fred Ebb musical, with Bob Fosse’s distinctive choreography, was revived in 1996 to become the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Celebrity Attractions last presented Chicago nine years ago.
Musicals with scores by Andrew Lloyd Webber have been a mainstay of Celebrity Attractions’ seasons for years: “Cats,” “Evita,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Starlight Express” and “Sunset Boulevard.” “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” April 1-6, 2014, is a concert presentation of songs from these shows and more, featuring an on-stage orchestra and a cast of some of Broadway’s current stars.
The season concludes with “Sister Act,” May 13-18, 2014. Based on the hit film that starred Whoopi Goldberg as a singer who witnesses a crime and hides out in a convent, the musical has a score by Tony- and Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken and features production numbers that made it, in the words of the New York Post, “ridiculously entertaining.”
“Wicked” will return June 18-22, 2014. Named the “best musical of decade” by Entertainment Weekly, the show set box-office records when it first played Tulsa in 2009, selling out its four-week, 32-show run. The story of how a young girl named Elphaba becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the West is at once a revision of L. Frank Baum’s imaginary world of Oz and a parable about love and tolerance.
Season tickets for the 2013-14 season are now on sale. Tickets for the five-show main season range from $94 to $342. The six-show package, which includes “Wicked,” ranges from $133 to $436. For tickets, call the Tulsa PAC at 918-596-7109, Celebrity Attractions at 918-477-7469 or go to tulsaworld.com/celebrityattractions2013-14.
Find more of this story and other entertainment news in Wednesday's Tulsa World Scene section.
Associated Images:
Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox talk about the production of Jekyll and Hyde at the Performing Arts Center in Tulsa during the announcment of thier 2013 season Tuesday. CHRISTOPHER SMITH/ Tulsa World
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