I recently had the good fortune to attend a Q&A with Mr. Schwartz, and here's the most pertinent information I learned from it. I might post more later, too.

1) Godspell is coming back to Broadway. Mr. Schwartz said he just learned of this himself on Wednesday from a phone call. Lawyers are currently talking to lawyers according to him.

2) Wicked is coming back to Chicago for a nine week run since it was still doing well when it left last January. It will not be at the Oriental, however, because Billy Elliot will be occupying Wicked's previous home at the time.

Yey! If it's true, I'll be super happy! I would have to see it like 5 times though at least lol, damn my wallet! And college will be right around the corner.

Bring back Lisa or Kristy or someone new! Or let it be the first national tour and have Donna extend.

I presume it will be whoever is leading the tour at that time.

I can't wait to tell my sister that Wicked is coming back to Chicago!

I hope it's the first national tour. With my luck Dee and Erin will come back for a "limited engagement" bleh! As talented as they are, I really want to see someone new!

EDIT: This means that "Billy Elliot" will be in Chicago for a while seeing as the Oriental wont be available and the tour has dates all the way through the summer of 2010.

That's exciting! Do we have any clue when it's returning?

I think when the SF production closes, it will go to Chicago for the run before setting up another open-ended production. (Maybe Toronto). The tours are scheduled through 2011, and it sounds like this is happening earlier.

That makes a lot of sense and I'd love to see Kendra lol

I was the Q and A as well. I was very excited about the news. Here's hoping it's at the Palace after Shrek departs next fall. The Bank of America is not suited for the show, considering how low the dress circle hangs over the orchestra.

Sorry, that's all I got.



Sounds plausible. I didn't realize they were booked through 2011. I wonder why they don't announce all of the scheduled stops, then.

Well they could have scheduled it a while back. We really have no way to know.

Wow thats exciting news. I've been wanting to see the show again recently.

Interesting that it left in January 2009, and they are already plaining on bringing it back. Chicago was a goldmine for Wicked, and I wonder if they are beginning to see how much.

I love this city!

The ICBH

Any chance they would bring it back to LA as well? It was doing extremely well there when it left, perhaps even better than Chicago.

Actually, looking at the tour schedule, it is only scheduled through August 2010, which is less than a year away. Maybe then it would go to Chicago.

I dont mean to be rude...but i think the show was doing much better in chicago. As it stayed longer and did many more performances. I could be wrong but i belive the show did better in chicago...

I agree..... it did way better in Chicago.. It was there for sooo long and left such a great impact on the city when it left...

The show was just as successful out here. However, we don't have as many venues as Chicago... The Pantages Theater had the show close this year in order to house touring companies again. It's not like it closed due to poor sales.

No i dont think it had poor sales there its just the show was here in Chicago for much longer. I think the sales were better om Chicago..not that they were bad in LA

Yeah, I'm saying the LA run was bad either- I have no clue how it really did.
But also something to keep in mind, it played at the Oriental for about 3 years, and the Oriental is larger than the Gershwin.