Rachel Tucker, former I’d Do Anything finalist, and nominee in last year’s Whatsonstage.com Awards for her role in We Will Rock You, will take the role of the green-skinned Elphaba in Wicked at the West End’s Apollo Victoria theatre.
She will start performances on 29 March 2010, opposite a new “good witch” Glinda, Louise Dearman. Coincidentally, the two have previously appeared on stage together as Elphaba and Glinda, spoofing the competitive nature of the hit musical’s two leading ladies in the regular satirical sketch show, Jest End.
The production of Wicked tells the “untold story” of the Witches of Oz – popular blonde Glinda, aka the Good Witch of the North, and her spin-victim friend Elphaba – who were both immortalised in the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz. The musical has a book by Winnie Holtzman, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It is directed by Joe Mantello.
The play opened in 2003 on Broadway, and Wicked received its West End premiere on 27 September 2006 (previews from 6 September). The current London company is led by Alexia Khadime as Elphaba and Dianne Pilkington as Glinda and also features Harriet Thorpe (Madame Morrible), Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero) and Sam Kelly (The Wizard).
