On 25 August 2023, the popular musical WICKED will be returning to Australian shores for another tour, which will commence at the Sydney Lyric Theatre before presumably heading to other yet-to-be-confirmed states and venues. After recently confirming the lead performers of Courtney Monsma as Glinda (Also known in The Wizard of Oz as the “Good Witch of the South“) and Sheridan Adams as Elphaba (Also known as the “Wicked Witch of the West”), co-producers John Frost for Crossroads Live, Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone have confirmed whom will be portraying other principal roles in the new production.
The role of the conniving and manipulative Madame Morrible will be portrayed by Robyn Nevin, a veteran of the Australian and West End theatre scenes, in addition to her stage roles. More recently in the musical scene, she portrayed Mrs Higgins in the Australian Tour of My Fair Lady.
Filling the role of the Wizard will be Todd McKenney, another role in his 40 years as an actor and entertainer. Some of his past involvement in productions include the 2019 Melbourne season of Barnum, Anything Goes, The Boy From Oz, The Rocky Horror Show and countless others.
Queensland Conservatorium graduate Liam Head will take on the role of the handsome and seemingly shallow Winky Prince. Liam made his professional debut playing the role of Nick Healy in the Australian premiere of Jagged Little Pill, then followed up with a featured role in Singin’ in the Rain at QPAC. Most recently Liam played the role of Take That band member Howard Donald in the Robbie Williams’ biopic Better Man.
Adam Murphy, currently performing as part of The Mousetrap, will be serving in the role of Dr Dillamond, a teacher of life sciences and a philosopher at Shiz University, and a goat. Murphy has served in a number of musicals and plays over the year, including roles in Mary Poppins, Dirty Dancing, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Shakespeare in Love, MTC’s Fun Home and the role of Jafar in Disney’s Aladdin.
From understudying the three lead female roles in Hamilton, Shewit Belay will be making her principal musical theatre role debut as Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, their father’s favourite daughter. Shewit also performed The Classics of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Der Israeliten in der Wüste with the Argyle Orchestra, Hobart.
The naïve, insecure and lovable munchkin Boq will be portrayed by Kurtis Papadinis, also in their adult principal musical theatre role debut. Kurtis made his stage debut as a child in The Production Company’s Mame, then played Michael Banks in the 2010 and 2012 tours of Mary Poppins, and the role of Gustave in the Australian premiere of Love Never Dies.
With this announcement, the producers shared their joy in being able to cast such as “thrillifying” line-up, and also sharing that more than 2,000 applications came in for the production. As stated by John Frost:
From over 2,000 applications when the casting call went out, we auditioned over 1,000 of Australia’s top performers and are so excited with the calibre and talent of our lead cast. Robyn, Todd and Adam have proved over and over again that they are incredibly gifted actors and audience favourites. Liam is fast becoming one of Australia’s leading young men on stage, and he will make a tremendous Fiyero. Shewit and Kurtis, both at the beginning of their professional careers, blew us away at their auditions and we have no doubt they will become huge stars on stage and screen.
WICKED is loved by Australia, and we have no doubt audiences will embrace our electrifying new leading ladies and stellar cast. There is a reason WICKED has become one of the most loved musicals of all time, with its strong characters and story, soaring melodies and stunning sets and costumes. We can’t wait for it to open in Sydney in August, for Australia to fall in love with the show all over again.
Ticketing information for this upcoming production of WICKED can be found via the show’s official website. At the moment no other seasons are announced, but I would expect these to be confirmed in due course.
