BLOG: Broadway Invades Opera (again)

by Trish Causey

New York City Opera will be invaded by vagabond gypsies from the Great White Way when Tony Award darlings Kristin Chenoweth and Raúl Esparza headline "Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz" on April 21, 2011. (Get the smelling salts for the blue-hair opera patrons!)

No strangers to making beautiful music together, Kristin and Raúl appeared in BROADWAY'S GREATEST SHOWSTOPPERS in May 2008, an event under the baton of A CHORUS LINE composer, Marvin Hamlisch. They also appeared together in the abstract, yet oh-so-fabulous-albeit-short-lived television comedy, PUSHING DAISIES.

Stephen Schwartz is the composer of such legendary shows as WICKED, GODSPELL, and PIPPIN. NYCO will be home to the Broadway composer again when it presents the New York premiere of his first opera, SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, April 19-May 1, 2011

Season subscriptions and single tickets will be available Sept. 7. Go to http://www.nycopera.com/, or call (212) 496-0600. NYCO productions are held at Lincoln Center.

Source: Playbill.com

BWAY: "Wicked" Breaks Record

by Trish Causey

Over Thanksgiving week 2009, the Broadway super-smash, Wicked, became the only Broadway show ever to gross more than $2 million in one week. Wicked achieved this with the addition of special holiday performances and the ever-increasing cost of Broadway tickets, around $144 each.

Wicked earned the same distinction in December 2007 when it grossed $1,839,950 in one week, holding on at the top till last week's feat. Perhaps the magic of Oz can help the show beat its own record a third time this December?

Get your tickets for Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre through Ticketmaster: www.ticketmaster.com/wicked.

Source: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/WICKED_Breaks_Record_to_Become_the_Highest_Grossing_Production_in_Broadway_History_20091130