Wicked returns to Sunderland Empire for its last ever North East visit on Thursday 6 September for a four-week run.
The show was last seen in Sunderland in April 2015 and it was enthusiastically received by critics and public alike, with huge excitement before and after every performance and standing ovations at the curtain call.
Since its première in Manchester in 2013, this touring production, involving over 100 people onstage and behind the scenes, has travelled across the UK but also to China, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland and Ireland. It will take 13 articulated lorries to transport the show’s sets, props and costumes to Sunderland, making a 330-mile journey from Dublin.
When they arrive, a backstage team of 60 will work for three days to build the production and prepare the theatre for the first performance. This includes creating an area backstage known as ‘Wardrobe Village’, which will house the show’s 350 costumes, 75 wigs, 140 pairs of shoes, 110 hats, 125 pairs of gloves and 30 prosthetic masks. On stage, one of the first things audiences will see as they enter the auditorium is a giant mechanical dragon, which hangs 7.5 metres above the stage with a wingspan of 11 metres.
The show has won over 100 awards worldwide, including three Tonys for the Broadway production (it is the sixth longest running Broadway show of all time) and two Oliviers for the West End production.