The lead cast of the upcoming revival of the hit musical Wicked, playing at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre from 25 August and produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live, has been announced.
Joining Courtney Monsma as the bubbly “Good Witch” Glinda and Sheridan Adams as Elphaba (the girl born with emerald-green skin who grows up to become the “Wicked Witch of the West”) will be Robyn Nevin, as the conniving Madame Morrible and Todd McKenney as the Wizard.
Left-right: Liam Head, Robyn Nevin, Kurtis Papadinis, Shewit Belay, Todd-McKenney and Adam Murphy. Photo © Hugh Stewart.
Rising star Liam Head will play Fiyero, the show’s handsome and but shallow Prince. Adam Murphy has been cast in the role of Dr Dillamond, a teacher of life sciences and a philosopher at Shiz University.
Shewit Belay will play Elphaba’s sister Nessarose. Kurtis Papadinis makes his professional adult debut as the munchkin Boq.
Nevin is one of Australia’s most respected and experiences actors, having played leading roles for all of Australia’s major theatre companies, in London’s West End and in the US. For the musical theatre stage, she played Mrs Higgins in the Australian tour of My Fair Lady, directed by Julie Andrews. Nevin also directed the recent 70th anniversary production of Agatha Chrsitie’s The Mousetrap – in which Murphy is featured as Major Metcalf.
McKenney’s first professional musical role was in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Song and Dance, and he has since gone on to play lead and headline roles in more than 20 musicals, most notably the role of Peter Allen in the Australian hit production The Boy From Oz, in which he performed over 1000 shows nationally. This year, Todd celebrates 40 years as a professional entertainer; he was a headline performer in Launceston’s Australian Musical Theatre Festival earlier this month.
Head is a graduate of Queensland Conservatorium, Liam made his professional debut in the Australian premiere of Jagged Little Pill. Belay is currently making her professional musical theatre debut understudying the three lead female roles in Hamilton.
Almost 20 years since its premiere on Broadway, Wicked remains one of the most successful and popular musicals and has won more than 100 major awards including a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award, six Helpmann Awards, three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards. It is the fourth longest running show in Broadway history.
Wicked plays at the Lyric Theatre, Sydney from 25 August.
