'Wicked' back to cast its spell

It's easy to understand the appeal of the Broadway musical blockbuster “Wicked,” returning to Chicago today for an eight-week run.

Many Americans were weaned on the classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” based upon L. Frank Baum's early 20th-century children's books. Love for the movie practically guaranteed an audience for “Wicked,” composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and playwright Winnie Holzman's stage adaptation of Gregory Maguire's revisionist 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.”

That's certainly true in Chicago, where the musical has already proven its popularity with audiences. What was just supposed to be a limited tour stop for “Wicked” back in 2005 became a full-fledged sit-down engagement that racked up more than 1,500 performances before it closed in early 2009 making it Chicago's longest-running Broadway-scale musical.

“Wicked's” Chicago return engagement features three local actors in prominent supporting roles. Barbara Robertson is back again as the devious school mistress Madame Morrible, and Gene Weygandt is once again playing the not-so-wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago-based actor/playwright Paul Slade Smith is also aboard as Dr. Dillamond, the persecuted talking goat professor.

“As is the case with actors' lives, it's either feast or famine,” Robertson said. “They called and I was able to fit it into my schedule.”

Robertson is happy to have good steady work at home for the holidays. She's also glad to be back reapplying her character's distinctive lavender makeup and wearing all of her custom-made whimsical costumes by Tony Award-winner Susan Hilferty, especially since Robertson keeps running into friends who somehow missed her in “Wicked” during its previous long Chicago stay.

While Robertson's “Wicked” stint is just for its Chicago return, Weygandt was also able to fill in as the Wizard in the tour's recent engagements in Boston and Toronto.

“I do love being part of this wonderful show,” Weygandt said, “this piece that touches so many people.”

Indeed, many audience members (particularly teenage girls) have identified with “Wicked's” two heroine witches who meet at school: the perky and popular Glinda and the moody and moralistic Elphaba (who gets branded as a villain when she speaks out against injustices in Oz).

Weygandt is keen to be reacquainted with many of those local fans, noting that he's never before had that special “Wicked” phenomenon of repeat audiences waiting at the stage door for autographs and snapshots.

“That's the real excitement of coming back home and getting to relive this really wonderful experience,” Weygandt said. “There will be a lot of people who we get to see again kids that have grown up a little bit and younger brothers and sisters who were too young to come to it the first time through.”

Both Robertson and Weygandt are excited to be playing the Cadillac Palace Theatre for the first time, and they're not at all sad that their return to “Wicked” will only last until Jan. 23. In fact, both revealed that they're in talks to appear in an upcoming production of “Working,” another Stephen Schwartz musical that is set to play Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place from Feb. 15 through May 8.

<P><B>“Wicked”</B> </P>

<P><B>Location:</B> Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com </P>

<P><B>Showtimes:</B> Performance schedule varies through Jan. 23, but most performances 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. No shows Dec. 25 or Jan. 1.</P>

<P><B>Tickets: </B> $30-$100 </P>

<P><B>Parking:</B> Nearby pay garages</P>