NBC's 'A Very Wicked Halloween' will celebrate the musical's 15th anniversary
The Broadway show "Wicked" will be celebrated in an NBC special on Oct. 29. Credit: Joan Marcus
Syosset's Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have quite a treat in store for musical theater fans.
The original stars of the long-running show "Wicked" will host the NBC special, "A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway," on Oct. 29. Joining them in the tribute concert will be pop star Ariana Grande (said to be a "superfan" of the show), the a cappella group Pentatonix and the current Broadway cast, led by Jessica Vosk and Amanda Jane Cooper.
While the show was not much loved by critics when it debuted in 2003 — it lost the best musical Tony Award to "Avenue Q" — audiences disagreed and the show has been pretty much a sellout ever since. "We're thrilled to … celebrate the enduring success of this show," said Doug Vaughan, executive vice president of NBC Entertainment.
With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, the show is based on a novel by Gregory Maguire that gives us the back story to "The Wizard of Oz." More than 55 million people worldwide have seen "Wicked," which has amassed more than $4.6 billion in global sales.
