Sydney Turns Green

Last night, the Sydney Town Hall was bathed in emerald green light to celebrate the arrival of the Broadway musical Wicked in Australia’s Emerald City.

Bert Newton, in costume as the Wizard, and Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP, jointly pushed the plunger at exactly 6pm which bathed the Sydney Town Hall in green light, the colour of the Emerald City of Oz, for the next month.

This is the first time the Sydney Town Hall has been “greenified”. Simultaneously much of the local area around the Capitol Theatre, where Wicked commences its season tonight, will also be “greenified”. The greening of the precinct will run for the Sydney season ofWicked.

The Capitol Theatre and Wicked are also encouraging local businesses to join them in going green by offering a monthly prize for the ‘greenest’ business, the first winner is Passionflower Café Capitol Square who have joined in by placing  green lighting inside the store, adding green décor and posters in the shop and created Wicked desserts.

Wicked tells the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the Land of Oz. One, born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years.

John Frost, Co-Producer of Wicked, said: “We are delighted to be adding a touch of green to Australia’s very own Emerald City.  It is also wonderful to see just how enthusiastic the City of Sydney, the Capitol Theatre and local businesses have been in coming on the journey with us. Wicked is like no other show that I have worked on before, the fan base for and support for this show worldwide is quite a phenomenon, and looking at the support we have received already in Sydney I think we are off to a great start here. We thank Sydney for such a warm welcome.”

Wicked officially opens on Saturday, September 12.