International WICKED star WILLEMIJN VERKAIK to make West End debut in WICKED this November

WICKED, the record-breaking hit West End musical that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, proudly welcomes Willemijn Verkaik to the role of ‘Elphaba’ from Monday 18 November 2013.

The award-winning Dutch star has previously played the role in more than 1000 performances in Holland, Germany and most recently on Broadway. In the hit musical’s decade-long history, she is the only actress to perform the role in more than one language.

Verkaik made her debut as ‘Elphaba’ in the German language production of Wicked on November 15, 2007 at the Palladium Theater in Stuttgart and subsequently at the Metronom Theater in Oberhausen. She reprised the role in the Dutch language premiere production, opening at the AFAS Circustheater on November 6, 2011 and made her Broadway debut at the Gershwin Theatre on 12 February 2013. She has won multiple awards in Europe for her performance and received a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award nomination for ‘Best Takeover’.

Louise Dearman will play her final performance as ‘Elphaba’ on Saturday 16 November 2013.

Recently acclaimed as “one of the most popular West End musicals ever" (London Evening Standard), the Olivier Award-winning London production of the global musical phenomenon is already the 16th longest-running West End musical of all time and has now been seen by over 5 million people since its London premiere in 2006. While continuing its record-breaking, open-ended run at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, a major new production will tour the UK and Ireland, opening at Manchester’s Palace Theatre in September 2013. Based on the acclaimed novel by Gregory Maguire that ingeniously re-imagines the stories and characters created by

L. Frank Baum in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two sorcery students. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfill their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Featuring music and lyrics by Academy Award® winner Stephen Schwartz, a book by Winnie Holzman and directed by two-time Tony Award® winner and Olivier Award nominee Joe Mantello. Wicked is based on the best-selling novel,‘Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’, by Gregory Maguire.

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