Welcome Back, Witches

Half of this announcement, I might have predicted.

Eden Espinosa and Megan Hilty, who began the sit down run of "Wicked" at the Pantages Theatre as (respectively) not-really-wicked witch Elphaba and goody two-shoes witch Glinda, will return to finish the L.A. run starting Halloween night through Jan. 11, 2009.

Espinosa's return is kind of a slam dunk. She's played that part, gosh, probably more times than anybody short of original Elphaba, Idina Menzel. And she's from the area (well, Orange County). When I interviewed her last spring as she was gearing up for Reprise's production of "Flora, the Red Menace," Espinosa was headed back to New York to finish the Broadway run of "Rent." She didn't have anything booked after that, and "Wicked" is pretty much in her blood.

Hilty, however, has an upcoming gig. She played the Dolly Parton role in the musical "9 to 5" which is closing at the Ahmanson this weekend. It's supposed to open on Broadway in April of next year (can't wait for those reviews) and I haven't heard anything other than that the original company members, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Marc Kudisch and Hilty are going with it.

Still, assuming that "9 to 5" duties would be light until well into 09, I guess it wouldn't hurt to draw a paycheck for a few months. The nostalgia fans who have seen the L.A. production multiple times should love to see the two veteran witches reunited.

Even before I got this notice, I happened to be surfing the L.A. production's website _ www.wickedthemusical.com/#WickedCitiesLosAngelesCompany _ to see who's currently doing the witchy duties. So I guess come Halloween, it's bye-bye Teal Wicks (Elphaba) and Erin Mackey (Glinda).