Wicked is about to scratch Cats from a slot on the Broadway record books. The musical will play its 7,486th performance at the Gershwin Theatre on Tuesday April 11 — surpassing Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s classic Cats, and making it the fourth longest-running play in Broadway history.
The musical, inspired by The Wizard of Oz and based on Gregory Maguire‘s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, has been seen by 65 million people worldwide, grossing more than 5 billion bucks from performances in more than 100 cities in 16 countries around the world.
Wicked, which is being adapted into a feature film debuting on Christmas Day, 2024, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in October. The Tony-winning play from Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman made superstars of original leads Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda).
Currently, Alyssa Fox and McKenzie Kurtz play the respective roles on Broadway.