WICKED ANNOUNCES LOTTERY FOR $25 SEATS

WICKED ANNOUNCES LOTTERY FOR $25 SEATS
PERFORMANCES BEGIN WEDNESDAY MAY 19 AT OVENS AUDITORIUM
Charlotte, N.C. –   A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from May 19 to June 13 at Ovens Auditorium. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time, people who present themselves at the Ovens Auditorium box office will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then, thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person.  The Ovens parking lot will be open for lottery participants starting three hours before curtain and there will be no charge for parking.  Please identify yourself as a lottery participant to the lot attendant.
WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney’s Enchanted, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”) based on the 1995 best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire.  The musical is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues) and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…).  WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone. 
Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.  WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. 
WICKED features set design by Tony Award winning Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd), costume design by Tony winner Susan Hilferty (Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, Assassins), lighting design by Tony nominee Kenneth Posner (Tony Award winner for The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King).  Stephen Oremus is the show’s music director.  Orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.
WICKED has “cast quite a spell” (Washington Post) throughout North America, breaking box office records in every city that it has played, including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few.
Called “a cultural phenomenon” by Variety and just named “the defining musical of the decade” by The New York Times, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently eight productions of WICKED worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, San Francisco production, London production, a Japanese-language production, a German-language production and Australian production.   A Dutch-language production of WICKED will open in 2011.
WICKED begins performances on Wednesday, May 19. Tickets can be purchased online at www.blumenthalcenter.org, by phone at 704.372.1000, or in person at the Belk Theater box office.  For best seat locations, please check weeknight performances and the special Thursday matinee on May 20.
For full press release, please click PDF below.