The Broadway production of Wicked will welcome several new cast members to the Gershwin Theatre this spring and the return of one original cast member.
Beginning March 7, Tony nominee John Dossett (Gypsy) will be The Wizard, Kimber Elayne Sprawl (Girl From the North Country) will assume the part of Nessarose, and William Youmans, the original Dr. Dillamond, will return to the halls of Shiz University in the role he created. Sprawl will be making history, becoming the first Black actor to play the role of Nessarose full-time on Broadway.
Cleavant Derricks, Clifton Davis, and Mikayla Renfrow will play their final performances as, respectively, The Wizard, Doctor Dillamond, and Nessarose, March 5.
Dossett, Sprawl, and Youmans will join a cast that includes Alyssa Fox as Elphaba (Fox succeeds Talia Suskauer beginning March 7), McKenzie Kurtz as Glinda (Kurtz succeeds Brittney Johnson beginning February 14), Tony winner Michele Pawk (who is married to Dossett) as Madame Morrible, James D. Gish as Fiyero, and Michael Wartella as Boq.
Wicked began previews on Broadway October 8, 2003, with an official opening October 30. The original cast included Tony winners Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth as, respectively, the green-faced, misunderstood Elphaba and the curly-locked Glinda. Wicked has subsequently been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries. In October 2019, the international hit musical surpassed Les Misérables to become the fifth longest-running production in Broadway history.
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Wicked, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.
The Joe Mantello-helmed production features musical staging by Wayne Cilento, scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Tony Meola, projections by Elaine J. McCarthy, wig and hair design by Tom Watson, music supervision and arrangements by Stephen Oremus, orchestrations by William David Brohn, and dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott. Casting is by the Telsey Office.
Wicked won 2004 Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical (Menzel), Best Costume Design (Hilferty), and Best Scenic Design (Lee).
The musical, which reopened on Broadway September 14, 2021, following the pandemic shutdown, is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone.
Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked
