Producer Marc Platt gets emotional when he talks about the extraordinary worldwide popularity of &ldquo;Wicked.&rdquo;</p><p>Maybe that&rsquo;s because the musical itself has gotten under the skin of so many people. So many people, in fact, that it has become a true show-business phenomenon since it opened on Broadway in 2003. </p><p>While other sectors of the economy are reeling, &ldquo;Wicked&rdquo; is graphic evidence that even in tough times a hit show can remain on top if it hits the right buttons. </p><p>With a worldwide gross north of $1.6 billion and a history of broken box-office records in New York, London and elsewhere, Platt believes there&rsquo;s an audience in Kansas City to support a three-and-a-half week run at the Music Hall. </p><p>&ldquo;Suffice to say, it continues to grow at unexpected and amazing amounts, even in a downturn economy,&rdquo; Platt said from his office in Los Angeles. &ldquo;The show has remained as popular and successful as ever. Even in cities like London, which is very hard hit, the show has grown from year to year. The same is true for all the &lsquo;Wicked&rsquo; companies in North America.&rdquo;</p><p>When &ldquo;Wicked&rdquo; made its Kansas City debut in 2008, the run was supported by Broadway Across America subscribers. The upcoming engagement is not part of the regular season, which means the show expects to sell enough single tickets (top price $130) to fill up the Music Hall for 32 performances. The show could reach a potential audience of 76,800. </p><p>&ldquo;It seems the show reaches deep into the population in the breadth and scope of its demographic,&rdquo; Platt said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a desire of audiences throughout the country and the world to see the show. We are quite confident coming to the great city of Kansas City that the audience will be as robust and enthusiastic as it was before.&rdquo;</p><p>Platt is one of several producers, including Universal Pictures, that worked together to bring &ldquo;Wicked&rdquo; to the stage. The adaptation of Gregory Maguire&rsquo;s prequel to &ldquo;The Wizard of Oz&rdquo; was written by Winnie Holzman (book) and Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics). </p><p>Platt, who also produces movies, said he and his partners thought they had a pretty good show on their hands, but none of them could have foreseen a level of popularity to support four companies in North America and one each in England, Australia, Germany and Japan. </p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think anyone can ever predict a phenomenon,&rdquo; Platt said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s almost impossible to really predict that. But I think you can know going in that it&rsquo;s going to be successful on some level. Certainly that was the case with &lsquo;Wicked.&rsquo;&ensp;&rdquo;</p><p>But there was a &ldquo;what-do-we-have-on-our-hands&rdquo; moment when the producers, the creative team and a cast gathered for the first read-through of the script. The actors sat at a table, read the dialogue and sang the songs, and Platt said there was something in the air that suggested what was to come. </p><p>&ldquo;We were very confident going into the reading that we had a very entertaining project,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But nothing prepared us for the overwhelming emotional response, the overwhelming passion, that poured forth from the 50 people in that room. That was our first inkling that &lsquo;Wicked&rsquo; might go far beyond our expectations.&rdquo;</p><p>A key to the show&rsquo;s success is its cross-generational appeal. Adults enjoy it as much as kids, and most people can relate to the basic story that pits a popular girl (Glinda, the future Good Witch) and the unpopular girl (Elphaba, the misunderstood Wicked Witch-in-training) against each other in a school setting. Anybody who remembers junior high &mdash; and, sadly, most of us do &mdash; understands the dynamic.