Wicked hits West End milestone as 10th longest running West End show of all time Smash-hit musical Wicked has achieved a big milestone today, as it becomes the 10th longest running show in West End history. Today, Wednesday 24 April 2024, will see the show play its 6,762nd performance, to overtake classic farce No Sex Please, We’re British, to become the 10th longest-runner. No Sex Please, We’re British ran from June 1971 to September 1987 in the West End, playing a total 6,761 performances. The ten longest-running West End stage productions in British history are: The Mousetrap, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Woman in Black, Blood Brothers, Mamma Mia!, Cats, The Lion King, Starlight Express, and Wicked. See the full list of the Top longest-running West End shows ever. The show is also the 8th longest-running musical in West End history, just behind Starlight Express. Wicked is currently booking to 1 June 2025 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London. The show is also currently touring the UK. Michael McCabe, Executive Producer of Wicked in the UK said: "As we celebrate the historic milestone of becoming the West End’s 10th longest ever running stage show, we offer our heartfelt thanks to the amazing audiences who have supported and championed Wicked since its very first performance in 2006. We also thank our exceptional creative and backstage teams, performers, and musicians who have worked so tirelessly and diligently to deliver every performance of the show." Wicked currently stars 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), Christine Tucker* (Standby for Glinda), Zac Adlam, Conor Ashman, Jessica Aubrey, Jeremy Batt, Felipe Bejarano, Asmara Cammock, Joshua Clemetson, Effie Rae Dyson, Aston Newman Hannington, Aimee Hodnett, Kate Leiper, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, Rory Maguire, PaddyJoe Martin, Darnell Mathew-James, Millie Mayhew, Ayden Morgan, Rishard-Kyro Nelson, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, Charlotte Anne Steen, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, Taela Yeomans-Brown, and Jacob Young. *Maternity cover for Lisa-Anne Wood. Wicked has 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 the West’ 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. Book tickets to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London Winners announced for the Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition The winners of the annual national writing competition Wicked Writers: Be the Change competition have been announced. The competition is a collaboration between the National Literacy Trust and smash-hit West End musical Wicked, as part of its Wicked Active Learning cultural and social education programme. Open to young writers in the UK, this year’s theme was the environment, and 1600 children across the UK have made their voices heard about the issues they are passionate about, including climate change, earth and sea pollution, and animal extinction The winner in the 9-11 age group is Sebastian Kesley, 10, from Hiltingbury Junior School in Hampshire who wrote a thoughtful first-person story about the impact of plastic in the ocean on marine life from the perspective of the ocean itself. Arthur Stock, 10, from Stanford Junior School in Brighton is the runner-up in this category and wrote a moving and informative piece about a lonely turtle caught in a plastic bag, with tips at the end for how people can help to reduce plastic pollution. The winner in the 11-14 age group is Luo Chen He, 13, from Co-op Academy in Stoke-on-Trent who impressed the judges with a creative tale about the importance of activism and the struggle to change the world. Samsritha Vakani, 14, from West Bromwich Collegiate, 14, is the runner-up in the older age category with a poem about planet Earth’s two potential futures – one positive and bright, and one destroyed without intervention. The competition was announced yesterday, 22 April 2024, on Earth Day, the annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Judges for the competition included award-winning children’s author, M. G. Leonard; English teacher, writer, and presenter of Holly’s Classroom, Holly King-Mand; Executive Producer of Wicked, Michael McCabe; and Chief Executive at the National Literacy Trust, Jonathan Douglas. Winners, runners-up, and shortlisted pupils will be published in the Wicked Writers Anthology, which is now available to buy. You can also read 2024’s winning and runner-up entries. Michael McCabe, judge and Executive Producer of Wicked said: “We are particularly proud to announce the winners and runners up of the Wicked Writers: Be The Change competition on Earth Day 2024. These outstanding pieces of persuasive writing demonstrate how environmentally conscious young people are, and how strongly they advocate for urgent climate action.” Book tickets to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London Wicked extends booking in London to June 2025 Blockbuster West End musical Wicked has gone on sale with more dates for it's run at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London. Over 400,000 new tickets have been added to the seating plans for the award-winning show, with Wicked now playing to 1 June 2025. That's the 37th extension for the show. Wicked opened in London in 2006 and is already the 11th longest-running West End production in history. Winner of more than 100 global awards, the production has now been seen by more than 12 million people in London alone. A new cast for the show will start this Tuesday, 12 March 2024, and feature 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), Christine Tucker (Standby for Glinda), covering Lisa-Anne Wood's maternity leave, Zac Adlam, Conor Ashman, Jessica Aubrey, Jeremy Batt, Felipe Bejarano, Asmara Cammock, Joshua Clemetson, Effie Rae Dyson, Aston Newman Hannington, Aimee Hodnett, Kate Leiper, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, Rory Maguire, PaddyJoe Martin, Darnell Mathew-James, Millie Mayhew, Ayden Morgan, Rishard-Kyro Nelson, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, Charlotte Anne Steen, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, Taela Yeomans-Brown, and Jacob Young. Leaving the show on Sunday 10 March are current cast members 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, and Jaydon Vijn. Wicked is also touring the UK in 2024, and is now playing at the Birmingham Hippodrome until 7 April 2024, and will visit Bradford, Southampton, Liverpool, Dublin, Sunderland, Cardiff and Manchester. The show has music and lyrics by multi-Oscar and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Enchanted), based on the multimillion-copy best-selling novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ by Gregory Maguire and written by Emmy and Tony Award nominee Winnie Holzman (My So-Called Life). Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento with direction by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello. Book tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
First look: New Wicked cast portraits First look photos have been released of the new London cast of Wicked. The new photos include veteran British actor and comedian Michael Fenton Stevens (Yes, Prime Minister) as The Wizard, with Graham Kent (Girl from the North Country, Miss Saigon) as Doctor Dillamond, and Laura Harrison (Standby for Elphaba) and Christine Tucker (Standby for Glinda, Maternity Cover). There are also new photos of current cast members Lucy St. Louis (Glinda), Ryan Reid (Fiyero), Caitlin Anderson (Nessarose), and Joe Thompson-Oubari (Boq). Wicked Character Portraits [ngg src="galleries" ids="1562" display="pro_horizontal_filmstrip"] From Tuesday 12 March 2024, the London production 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), Christine Tucker, covering Lisa-Anne Wood's maternity leave (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 Newman Hannington, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, Charlotte Anne Steen, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, Taela Yeomans-Brown, and Jacob Young. Wicked has 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 the West’ by Gregory Maguire and written by Emmy and Tony Award nominee Winnie Holzman. Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento with direction by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello. Wicked is booking until 15 December 2024 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre London. Book tickets to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
Wicked The Movie – Part One trailer released A first-look trailer has dropped for the first of the new Wicked movies. Released by Universal Pictures, the blockbuster trailer is all about teasing and suspense - but not so much about the music of Wicked. Part Oneof the new Wicked movies is scheduled to come out in cinemas on 27 November 2024, with Part Tworeleased in late 2025. The movies are obviously based on the smash-hit Broadway and West End musical Wicked by Stephen Schwartz(music and lyrics) and Winnie Holzman (book), inspired by Gregory Maguire’s novel that tells the backstory of the witches of Oz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1dvX9Vs0ns Directed by Jon M. Chu, the movie stars green-skinned Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, played by stage and screen star Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple); and future Good Witch of the North, Glinda, played by music superstar Ariana Grande. In the trailer we see them in their early days as school friends, and going to Oz, but not so much their complicated adulthood as they contend with politics and love triangles - namely Fiyero, played by Bridgerton and Company star Jonathan Bailey. There aren't any full-blown songs in the trailer, but we do hear a tantalising taster of Cynthia Erivo performing Wicked's show-stopping number "Defying Gravity". Whilst we do get a quick glimpse of Jonathan Bailey, you see more in the trailer from Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard. Other cast in the movie include Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman) as Miss Coddle, Marissa Bode who portrays Elphaba's sister Nessa (Nessarose), Ethan Slater as Boq, SNL star Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Bronwyn James (Harlots) and Aaron Teoh as Shiz students, Colin Michael Carmichael (Hot Fuzz) as Professor Nikidik, and Adam James (The Buccaneers) as Glinda's father, The script for the movies has been adapted from the musical by Schwartz and Holzman, who may have also penned some new songs for the movie; and the producer is the show's original Broadway and West End producer Marc Platt. Book tickets to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
Wicked reveals new London cast for 2024 & 2025;
Carl Man to join Laura Pick in Wicked UK tour Carl Man will join Laura Pick in the upcoming UK tour of smash-hit musicalWicked. Carl Man, who most recently played Romeo in Max Martin musical & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre London will play 'Fiyero', reuniting with Pick's 'Elphaba having both appeared in the West End production. Carl Man said: “When I first got to play ‘Fiyero’ in the West End, it was opposite Laura Pick, so I’m incredibly excited to be reuniting with Laura, and with this phenomenal show. To be given the opportunity to play Fiyero at ten of the UK & Ireland’s most prestigious theatres is a great honour and I can’t wait to get started.” Carl spent three years in Wicked in the West End, playing ‘Fiyero’ on many occasions. His many other credits include ‘Rory’ in the new musical Proud (Turbine Theatre); Wicked new cast photos – starring Lucy St. Louis & Alexia Khadime More photos have been released of the latest Wicked cast at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London. Wicked stars The Phantom of the Opera actress Lucy St. Louis as ‘Glinda’ and Alexia Khadime as ‘Elphaba’. The full cast features Ryan Reid (Fiyero), Sophie-Louise Dann (Madame Morrible), Mark Curry (The Wizard), Caitlin Anderson (Nessarose), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Boq), Simeon Truby (Doctor Dillamond), Amy Webb (Standby for Elphaba), Lisa-Anne Wood (Standby for Glinda), Yuki Abe, Kofi Aidoo-Appiah, Conor Ashman, Jessica Aubrey, Joshua Clemetson, Fergus Dale, Effie Rae Dyson, Nicola Espallardo, Danny Fogarty, Ross Harmon, Kate Leiper, Nick Len, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, PaddyJoe Martin, Millie Mayhew, Harry Mills, Daniel Parrott, Aiesha Naomi Pease, Jeanie Ryan, Natalie Spriggs, James Titchener, Micaela Todd, Christine Tucker, Jaydon Vijn, and Taela Yeomans-Brown. The new London cast began their run at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on Tuesday, 7 March 2023. Wicked is now in its 17th year at the Apollo Victoria, making it the9th longest running musical in West End theatre history. The showwelcomed its 11 millionth visitorto the Apollo Victoria in September last year; and in July it also celebrated its6,000 performance in the West End. Producers of the show today announced the release of 400,000 new tickets with the show extending its booking period to 2 June 2024. The Broadway production, now in its 20th year, became the 4th longest running production in Broadway history this month surpassing Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS. Wicked has music and lyrics by multi-Oscar and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz, whose previous credits include Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Disney’s Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Enchanted and its Disney+ sequel Disenchanted. The show is based on the multi-million copy best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire and written by Emmy and Tony Award nominee Winnie Holzman. Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento with direction by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello. Book tickets to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London Photos: New photos Wicked 2023-2024 cast photos [ngg src="galleries" ids="1127" display="pro_tile"] Photos: Previously released WICKED 2023-2024 cast photos [ngg src="galleries" ids="1060" display="pro_tile"]
