‘Wicked’ Passes $1B In Broadway Sales, A Milestone For Marc Platt And David Stone’s Global Blockbuster

The Wizard Of Oz prequel Wicked has grossed over $1 billion at the Nederlander Organization’s 1,807-seat Gershwin Theater, one of Broadway’s largest houses. It joins The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera as the only shows to have grossed $1 billion at the Broadway box office. The show, which overcame less-than-enthusiastic reviews by carefully campaigning to attract a core audience of teenage girls and the parents who support them, has joined an elite group of worldwide hits that includes Phantom and Les Miserables.

Worldwide, Wicked has grossed nearly $4 billion in sales and has been seen by nearly 50 million people. The musical has been performed in over 100 cities in 14 countries including the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico and Brazil. It’s currently the 10th longest-running production in Broadway history.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. It’s produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone. In addition to the Broadway production, Wicked in North America has sustained record-breaking sit-down engagements in Chicago, where it ran for nearly four years; Los Angeles, where it ran for two years; and San Francisco, where it ran for nearly two years, as well as two concurrent National Tours.