The “Wicked” original Broadway cast recording has achieved a new milestone. The Grammy Award-winning album from Decca Broadway has been anointed with 4X platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA certification comes a few months before the musical is set to reach its 22nd anniversary on Broadway.
In celebration of the newly minted RIAA status, Decca Broadway has announced the release of a 2-LP picture-disc release of the original cast recording. Set to be available on October 3, the brand-new vinyl variant will feature portraits of original Broadway cast members Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth pressed onto a 2-LP picture disc alongside images from the Broadway show. It will also include a specially crafted zoetrope side featuring “Wicked” iconography that comes to life as the record spins.
Originally released in December 2003, the “Wicked” cast album has sold over five million copies to date worldwide. With its 4X platinum certification, the cast album is now tied with the “Les Misérables” original Broadway cast recording and two “Phantom of the Opera” recordings — the original London cast album and the London highlights album — and beating the original London cast recording of “My Fair Lady.”
Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, “Wicked” is loosely adapted from the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” “Wicked” features music direction by Stephen Oremus, orchestrations by William David Brohn, music arrangements by Oremus and Alex Lacamoire and dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.
In addition to the “Wicked” cast album, Decca Broadway has produced theatrical cast recordings of a number of musicals, including “Mamma Mia!,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Rent.”
“Wicked” is produced on Broadway by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, the Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.
