'Wicked' Millionaires: The Rich Profits of the Hit Musical

Playbill.com reports this week that the hit musical 'Wicked,' based on the novel by Gregory Maguire and featuring a score by Stephen Schwarts and a book by Winnie Holzman, has made the show's creators millionaires several times over.

It sounds like if you're on the creative team of a Broadway musical and one that is a mega-hit you may be set and never need to work again.

'Wicked' which celebrated its eighth anniversary on Broadway last October, has earned more $300 million in profits from productions worldwide for the musical's producers and investors. Here's a breakdown of the creative team's earnings from the article:

"Authors Maguire, Schwarts and Holzman have earned more than $95 million, while director Joe Mantello's take has exceeded $23 million. Others who have profited include set designer Eugene Lee (more than $6.6 million), choreographer Wayne Cilento (more than $6.3 million) and costume designer Susan Hilferty (more than $2.2 million)."

The report adds that the information is based on papers filed with the New York State attorney general's office in June 2010. So these figures understates the team's actual compensation to date.

'Wicked' takes a revisionist look at the American icon of evil and discovers how the young Elphaba, a passionate, committed young woman from Oz, becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Her character is contrasted with that of her school roommate Glinda, who grows up to be the Good Witch. Visit wickedthemusical.com for information about the Broadway, touring and various worldwide productions of the musical.

Click HERE to read the full article on playbill.com.

Qantas A380 Lands At Honolulu International Airport

Photo of a Qantas A380 sitting on the tarmac at Honolulu International
Airport this morning. (photo credit: Reece Frazier)

Currently none of the international carriers flying the A380 super jumbo jet stops at Honolulu International Airport nor is the airport's terminal ready to accommodate the jet.

But for the second time a Qantas A380 super jumbo jet made an emergency landing in Honolulu. This morning a flight originally bound for Melbourne, Australia from Los Angeles diverted to Honolulu for unknown medical emergency. Reports indicate the plane would remain overnight due to crew hours.

Back in February of last year another Qantas A380 traveling from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles made an emergency landing also due to a medical emergency. The plane with 330 passengers on board waited about an hour before taking off again to California.

The video below show how massive the plane actually is as it parks at one of gates at Honolulu International.

'The Lion King' is the new Broadway box-office champ surpassing 'The Phantom of the Opera'

(photo credit: broadwaytour.net)

As Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera' rules the Broadway long-run chart surpassing 10,000 performances earlier this year, the mega-musical hit has had to yield one of its longtime records to Disney's New York production of 'The Lion King.'

'Lion' has now grossed $853.8 million since its opening in 1997. 'Phantom' which opened in 1998 has grossed $853.1 million since opening in 1988. With Disney's marketing strength and title recognition, 'The Lion King' weekly gross is over one million while 'Phantom' (still profitable) last topped one million over the New Year's weekend and in 2011 only reached that benchmark seven times. The recent average ticket price at 'Lion' was $155.09 while the average for 'Phantom' was $98.97. Also 'Lion' which is currently housed at the Minskoff Theatre has 1,677 seats (it moved from the 1,801-seat New Amsterdam Theatre in 2006). The Majestic Theatre where 'Phantom' is playing its 25th year holds seats for 1,605. In the Broadway performance count, 'Lion' ranks sixth and is nearing 6000 performances.

Keep in the mind that the gross for both shows is astounding considering these numbers are only for the New York production and does not include the gross from any touring or international productions or even the sales of merchandise from each show's souvenir booth.

(photo: Peter James Zielinski/BroadwayWorld)