Wicked Announces 2024/5 London Cast
by Best of Theatre Staff on Friday 24 November 2023, 11:13 am in Cast Changes and Announcements
WICKED, the West End and Broadway musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, will welcome Michael Fenton Stevens (The Wizard), Graham Kent (Doctor Dillamond), and welcome back former cast member Laura Harrison (Standby for Elphaba) to London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre from Tuesday 12 March 2024.
Mark Curry (The Wizard), Steven Pinder (Doctor Dillamond), Amy Webb (Standby for Elphaba), Yuki Abe, Kofi Aidoo-Appiah, Fergus Dale, Nicola Espallardo, Danny Fogarty, Ross Harmon, Harry Mills, Daniel Parrott, Christine Tucker, and Jaydon Vijn will all depart the company on Sunday 10 March 2024.
Alexia Khadime (Elphaba), Lucy St. Louis (Glinda), Ryan Reid (Fiyero), Sophie-Louise Dann (Madame Morrible), Caitlin Anderson (Nessarose), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Boq), Lisa-Anne Wood (Standby for Glinda), Conor Ashman, Jessica Aubrey, Joshua Clemetson, Effie Rae Dyson, Kate Leiper, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, Rory Maguire, PaddyJoe Martin, Millie Mayhew, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, and Taela Yeomans-Brown all continue.
“One of the most successful musicals of all time” (BBC News) and the winner of more than 100 global awards, Wicked is already the 11th longest-running production in West End history.
From Tuesday 12 March 2024, Wicked will star Alexia Khadime (Elphaba), Lucy St. Louis (Glinda), Ryan Reid (Fiyero), Sophie-Louise Dann (Madame Morrible), Michael Fenton Stevens (The Wizard), Caitlin Anderson (Nessarose), Graham Kent (Doctor Dillamond), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Boq), Laura Harrison (Standby for Elphaba), Lisa-Anne Wood (Standby for Glinda), Conor Ashman, Jessica Aubrey, Jeremy Batt, Felipe Bejarano, Asmara Cammock, Joshua Clemetson, Effie Rae Dyson, Aimee Hodnett, Kate Leiper, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, Rory Maguire, PaddyJoe Martin, Darnell Mathew-James, Millie Mayhew, Ayden Morgan, Rishard-Kyro Nelson, Aston Neman Hannington, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, Charlotte Anne Steen, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, Taela Yeomans-Brown, and Jacob Young.
Michael Fenton Stevens (The Wizard), the famed British actor and comedian, has been a popular and enduring presence on television, radio, and stage since the early 80s. His prolific career has ranged from providing voices for the original Spitting Image series (including voicing the UK Number 1 hit ‘The Chicken Song’) to playing ‘Dr John Radcliffe’ in the RSC production of Helen Edmundson’s Queen Anne in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. His many hundreds of television appearances include ‘Sir Henry’ in Benidorm (ITV); ‘Ronnie Green’ in Hapless (Netflix) with Tim Downie; ‘Mr. Griffith’ in My Family (BBC); ‘Home Secretary’ in Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s My Dad’s The Prime Minister (BBC); ‘Reverend Gordon Fox’ in Julia Davies’ Nighty Night (BBC); ‘Richard Johnson’ in Mike Bassett: Manager (ITV), with Ricky Tomlinson; ‘Hank Millbeck’ in The Legacy of Reginald Perrin (BBC); and the voice of ‘Mr. Beakman’ in Josh Selig’s 3rd & Bird animated series (CBeebies). For radio, Michael starred in the long-running BBC Radio 4 comedy series Radio Active, which was also developed into the popular television series KYTV; played ‘Paul Morgan’ in 60 episodes of The Archers; the title character in Inspector Steine; and appeared inDouglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. His many stage appearances have included: Yes, Prime Minister (in the West End as ‘Simon Chester’, and on tour as ‘Jim Hacker’); and William Congreve’s Love For Love (RSC). Together with Angus Deayton and Philip Pope, he founded the parody pop group The Hee Bee Gee Bees in the early 80s. He currently hosts the popular podcast series, My Time Capsule.
Graham Kent (Doctor Dillamond) was most recently seen in the UK & Ireland Tour of Conor McPherson’s Girl from the North Country and on television as ‘Albert Quirk’ in Julian Fellowes’ Belgravia (ITV). His London stage appearances have included ‘Mr. Price’ in Kinky Boots (and in the live capture by Broadway HD); Herge's Adventures of Tintin (Barbican), and Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane).
Laura Harrison (Standby for Elphaba) is currently appearing in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard. Laura returns to Wicked having previously been part of the 2022/23 ensemble cast, during which time she performed the role of ‘Elphaba’ on many occasions to huge acclaim. Laura trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Performances begin Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, and Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2.30pm. The performances on Sunday 24 December 2023 and Sunday 31 December 2023 will begin at the earlier time of 1.00pm. The following six added shows are also now on sale: Thursday 28 December 2023, Thursday 15 February, Thursday 4 April,Thursday 1 August, Thursday 15 August and Thursday 31 October 2024 all at 2:30pm. Doors open 90 minutes prior to the start of all performances.
Whilst continuing its West End run, Wicked will embark on a third tour of cities in England, Scotland, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland, opening at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 7 December 2023 and continuing to Bristol Hippodrome, Birmingham Hippodrome, Bradford Alhambra Theatre, Southampton Mayflower Theatre, Liverpool Empire, Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre, and Manchester Palace Theatre.
Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s celebrated musical is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire and imagines a beguiling backstory and future possibilities to the lives of L. Frank Baum’s beloved characters from ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, revealing the decisions and events that shape the destinies of two unlikely university friends on their journey to becoming ‘Glinda The Good’ and the ‘Wicked Witch of the West’.
Wickedhas music and lyrics by multi-Oscar and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (‘Godspell’, ‘Pippin’, ‘The Prince of Egypt’, Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’and ‘Enchanted’). It is based on the multimillion-copy best-selling novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of theWest’ by Gregory Maguire and written by Emmy and Tony Award nominee Winnie Holzman (creator of the landmark American television series ‘My So-Called Life’). Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento with direction by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello.
Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone. Executive Producer (UK) Michael McCabe.