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Ever since Steve Quinn’s great niece saw “Wicked: For Good,” she’s been “toss-tossing” and begging to see the musical. He called the story “generational.”.

“It’s more than just a show; there is something special about it. It’s really exciting that we get to do it together,” Quinn, the “Wicked” company manager, said.

The Broadway musical, “Wicked,” is playing at Syracuse’s Landmark Theatre until Dec. 14 as part of the show’s second North American National Tour. The show, inspired by 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” and based on a 1995 novel The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, debuted on Broadway 22 years ago.

The story follows an unlikely friendship between the misunderstood, emerald-green-skinned Elphaba and the popular, bubbly blonde Glinda; the musical explores what it means to be good and evil.

Ethan Kirschbaum, who plays Fiyero, said “Wicked” was the first Broadway show he ever saw. From then on, Kirschbaum said he carried a special connection to the material, characters and music.

Kirschbaum said Zoe Jensen (Glinda) and Jessie Davidson (Elphaba) told him they saw the show for the first time as kids.

“It’s such a magical show. There is something really special about it that is hard to tangibly equate or measure to anything else,” Kirschbaum said.

The show has also helped the cast bond with each other, Quinn said. Quinn is now on his third tour with cast member Blake Hammond (The Wizard).

“We’re a bit of a family now,” Quinn said. “People say ‘oh you must deal with divas on the cast,’ but I really don’t have that. We have been very lucky and blessed with the people on this tour.”

Kirschbaum said when he first took on the role of Fiyero, he studied previous portrayals of the character. Since “Wicked” is so well known, and so many people have done it before, there is a mold that an actor can be expected to honor, Kirschbaum said.

Despite challenges like tight backstage quarters and snow concerns in the loading dock, the cast and crew of “Wicked” at the Landmark Theatre is determined to keep the show’s content and production quality consistent. No matter the city, the show remains the same. Madison Cox | Staff Photographer

“You have to tell this story with complete authenticity and so it’s a marriage of the two, you have to sound good and also really truthful with your acting,” Kirschbaum said.

Syracuse’s snow demanded extra caution with the loading docks when the crew was setting up, and the Landmark’s historic building had tighter backstage quarters, Quinn said. Even with these challenges, the cast and crew are determined to keep the production quality consistent.

“We don’t cut anything, so the same show you see here you’d see in Schenectady, Albany or Buffalo,” Quinn said.“What changes is what you don’t see. The backstage traffic is what changes from city to city, but everything onstage is all the same.”

With the release of the second movie, “Wicked: For Good,” on Nov. 2, and the popularity of the first movie, Quinn has seen more engagement from younger audiences. The film has brought in first-time musical audience members, Quinn said.

“People are coming because they are interested to watch the story in one part, but also to see that theater magic, like how does Elphaba fly on a broom on a stage where there is no CGI?” Quinn said. “This is going to be some people’s very first show and what brings them to the theater, so we owe it to them to give them a number-one show.”

As a longtime “Wicked” fan, Alexa Verne had seen the show four times before attending the opening night of “Wicked” at the Landmark Theatre. The Syracuse University senior said she didn’t expect the show to feel the same as seeing it in New York City, but she was pleasantly surprised by the similarities between the Syracuse and Broadway productions.

The show shares themes of identity, power and acceptance to relationships. Verne said the themes of friendship resonate most with her, especially when Glinda and Elphaba have a duet to the song “For Good,” where they admit they have been “changed for good” since they became friends.

“Everybody has good in them for the most part, so having them show that in the performance is really great,” Verne said.

Published on December 9, 2025 at 10:19 pm