Rejoicify! Wicked returns to Oz

Lucy Durack and Jemma RixThe award-winning musical theatre blockbuster Wicked is returning to its original Australian home in Melbourne next year.

Australian Co-Producer John Frost has announced that Wicked will open at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne, on Saturday 10 May 2014 for a strictly limited season, before touring to Sydney and Brisbane.

Lucy Durack will reclaim the role she created in the original Australian production of Wicked, Glinda the Good; pretty, perky, vain and popular but also vulnerable. Lucy has rapidly become one of Australia’s most exciting leading ladies of stage and screenwith a substantial list of major roles to her credit, most recently her Helpmann Award nominated performance as Elle Woods in the musical Legally Blonde.

With 800 performances across Australia and Asia under her belt, Jemma Rix returns to the role of Elphaba, the misunderstood ‘Wicked’ Witch born with emerald green skin and a great talent for sorcery.

Joining the Wicked company direct from Legally Blonde to play his first musical theatre leading role will be Steve Danielsen as Fiyero. After small roles in film and TV productions including Queen Of The Damned, Offspring and Neighbours, and performing in the musicals Legally Blonde and Xanadu.

Doyenne of stage and screen, Maggie Kirkpatrick will play Madame Morrible, the Head Mistress of Shiz University who takes Elphaba under her wing, training her in sorcery. Maggie originated the role in the Australian production.

Playing Doctor Dillamond will be Glen Hogstrom, who joined the cast in this role during the Asian tour. The role of Nessarose will be played by newcomer Emily Cascarino (Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys), while Edward Grey, currently playing Kiki in Legally Blonde, will play Boq.

Australia Co-Producer John Frost said, “Right from the beginning this show has been an overwhelming hit everywhere it has played. We have assembled an extraordinary cast for this 10th Anniversary tour, led by Lucy Durack returning to her favourite role, a role which shot her to stardom.”

“I’m thrilled to bring Wicked, in all her emerald beauty and with this stellar cast, back home to the wonderful Regent Theatre, where Australian audiences fell in love with it for the first time.”

Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz, one born with emerald green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood.

The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production features musical staging by Wayne Cilento and is directed by Lisa Leguillou, based on the original direction by Joe Mantello.

Tickets go on sale Monday 22 July 2013. For more information, visit: www.wickedthemusical.com.au for details.

Image: Lucy Durack and Jemma Rix (photo by Jeff Busby)