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Broadway show 'Wicked' boosts Greensboro economy

The Steven Tanger Center For The Performing Arts. BETHANY CHAFIN/WFDD

The delayed run of the first Broadway show to play at Greensboro's Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts had a significant impact on the Gate City economy. 

The musical Wicked ended its three-week run at the Tanger Center on Sunday.

According to a news release, more than 66,000 theatergoers turned out to see the show over 24 performances. Officials say that makes it not only the longest but the highest-grossing engagement of a Broadway show ever to have played in the Triad.

An analysis by a New York City-based industry trade association shows that the musical's impact on the local economy is estimated to be over $11 million. That includes tourism dollars spent at hotels, local restaurants, and parking areas.

And the elaborate stage production employed over 100 local stagehands, hair and wardrobe professionals, musicians, and merchandise sellers.

The musical Beautiful, about the singer-songwriter Carole King, was supposed to inaugurate the Tanger Center's Broadway season in May of 2020, but all performances at the theater were delayed because of the pandemic. Beautiful is now set for a six-day run in November.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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