As ‘Wicked’ Movie Opens, Broadway Insider Talk Show Appeals: ‘A Very Deep Thing’

BEDFORD ‒ Fans have waited a long time to see Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as witches on the big screen, but the wait ends this week: “Wicked” — part one of the “untold story” of the Witches of Oz — opens Friday. in theaters everywhere, including the Bedford Playhouse.

The place will mark the occasion with a special event. Friday at 19.00, before the screening at 19.30, a man with an intimate connection to the Stephen Schwartz musical and a special connection to Skuespilhuset will give a short speech and answer questions from the audience.

Dan Micciche is as inside as a “Wicked” insider can get.

Not only did he attend the New York premiere of “Wicked” with Grande and Erivo and Schwartz — “It was absolutely amazing,” he declares — he’s also musical director and conductor at the Gershwin Theater, the man tasked with keeping ” Wicked” sounds like “Wicked” eight shows a week on Broadway and in the touring companies.

Doing some quick math, he figures he’s heard the final notes of “Defying Gravity” — fans know them — more than 3,500 times from his podium facing the orchestra. But that’s just the shows. Micciche also does all hiring for Broadway and national companies, auditing about 15,000 actors a year. He handles auditions and rehearses during the day before his second job, where he conducts a musical.

“The show is the end of my day,” he says.

Micciche has had a summer residency at the Bedford Playhouse for four years now, ever since the Darien, Conn., native moved to Ridgefield, Conn., during the pandemic. With Broadway closed, he reached out to the Playhouse and began bringing Broadway friends to perform on the green or in the theater. To this day, the playhouse staff has a “Wicked” insider on speed dial.

Friday’s special event is sold out, so we asked Micciche to answer some of our “Wicked” questions. His answers have been condensed for space and clarity. (More about Micciche at https://www.danmiccichemusic.com.)

Q: As someone who stands there every night and is blown away by (the song) “Defying Gravity,” can you put into words what that transposition to the screen means to you? Does it affect you differently?

Dan Micciche: “Yes, it does. About a year and a half ago, when they started production on the movie, I started working on the pre-records with Stephen Schwartz, and we did some of the new stuff that they’re using for the second part. It was really amazing to start from scratch with the new material that they’re doing, but to see it that night (at the New York premiere) was … so much that I saw the show for the first time when I was a senior in high school and I have been with the show for almost 11 years now in so many different capacities I’ve just seen this huge corporate machine that I drive every night on Broadway to see it turned into a movie but also to sit in the theater with my colleagues and Ari and Cynthia and Schwartz and all of us who just saw this movie were … It’s a moment, it’s so big, yet it’s intimate.

There must be people still seeing it at Gershwin for the first time.

“There is. It’s amazing. And I’ve got to tell you: After 21 years and almost 11 years myself, some nights when ‘Defying Gravity’ comes down, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is really good.’ is just an excellent piece, I mean it’s extremely well crafted and there’s so much in the material after 21 years now, it hits everything and it hits everyone of all ages.

It’s not just a show for them.

“This show is a very deep thing for people. It’s a life-changing experience for some people, and it just shows what the original creatives did with (composer) Schwartz and (book writer) Winnie Holzman and (director) Joe Mantello. It gives resonates on a deeper level than people going to see a funny Broadway show. It really resonates with people personally.

Why do you think that is?

“I think it’s because of the journey between the two women and also seeing Elphaba and identifying with times when we don’t feel like we fit in and we’re looked at differently. And then people who identify say with Glinda. Even everything that happens with Dr. Dillamond and how the wizard tries to silence him. It really speaks to a lot of different things that are still happening in our world.

After 21 years, do the themes still seem fresh?

“They do. I did ‘Chicago: The Musical’ for six years on Broadway before I started doing ‘Wicked,’ and it’s the same thing people say at the stage door, ‘Did they rewrite the show on time?’ ‘Chicago’ originally flopped in 1975, but it was a huge hit in 1996 because of the OJ Simpson trial, as things are still so relevant to this day. has definitely changed the script for “Wicked” for what’s going on world.’ And I’m like, ‘No, they haven’t changed anything’.”

About “Wicked“: Directed by Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “In the Heights”), “Wicked” is the first in a two-part series. “Wicked Part Two” hits theaters November 2025. It stars Ariana Grande .as the popular Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as the serious Elphaba Jeff Goldblum who plays Madame Morrible Bailey as Fiyero and Marissa Bode as Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose.

About Bedford Playhouse: The Bedford Playhouse is at 633 Old Post Road, Bedford, NY. https://bedfordplayhouse.org/

Reach Peter D. Kramer at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on the Rockland/Westchester Journal News: ‘Wicked’ Broadway director Dan Micciche talks film and Ariana Grande