NBC’s love affair with Broadway isn’t limited to Christmas and Easter seasons: just in time for trick or treat, the network will broadcast A Very Wicked Halloween: Celebrating 15 Years on Broadway, a concert-style special of songs and stars from the stage hit about life in Oz pre-Dorothy.
The special, reuniting original stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, is set for Monday, October 29 at 10pm ET/PT.
“Wicked is a blockbuster musical playing all over the world and still selling out night after night after 15 years on Broadway,” said said Doug Vaughan, Executive Vice President, Special Programs and Late Night, NBC Entertainment, “and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Emmy and Tony-winning producer Marc Platt and the entire Wicked team to celebrate the enduring success of this show.”
He continued: “We’re especially excited to have Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth reunited along with big guest stars in front of an audience – in costume hopefully – to help us celebrate the Halloween season.”
Additional guest performers, with more to be announced, include Ariana Grande, Pentatonix and the current Broadway company of Wicked.
Unlike the network’s presentations of Jesus Christ Superstar In Concert or the upcoming Hair Live!, the Wicked special will be taped at Broadway’s Marquis Theater. It’s produced by the original Wicked team, including Marc Platt, with Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment. Weiss will direct.
Among the songs made famous by the wildly successful Broadway musical (based on the fantasy novel by Gregory Maguire) are “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good.” The musical won three Tony Awards, a Grammy Award, made stars of both Menzel and Chenoweth and has raked in more than $4.6 billion in global sales.
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. Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.
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