Laurel Harris, Kara Lindsay & Gene Weygandt to Join WICKED's Second National Tour in April

The company of the second North American tour of Wicked will welcome Laurel Harris as Elphaba, Kara Lindsay as Glinda and Gene Weygandt as the Wizard beginning Wednesday, April 2 in Fresno, CA.

Harris returns to Wicked after touring with the show for the past three years. She was most recently the Standby for Elphaba on the 1st North American Tour. She was seen on Broadway in the recent revival of Evita as the Eva understudy and in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Regionally, she has appeared in Annie (Star to Be).

Lindsay originated the role of Katherine in the Broadway production of Newsies. She toured with Little House on the Prairie as Laura. Paper Mill Playhouse: Newsies and Little House on the Prairie. Other credits include: Kansas City Starlight's Cinderella (Cinderella), Kansas City Rep's Cabaret (Sally Bowles), 5th Avenue's Lone Star Love (Miss Anne Page) and Geva Theater's A Christmas Carol (Belle).

Weygandt has previously played the Wizard in Wicked on Broadway and on tour. He has also appeared on Broadway in big: The Musical. TV and Film credits include The Birdcage, The Babe, "Mind Games," "Chicago Fire," "Boss," "Betrayal," "The Beast," "Cybil," "Home Improvement," "Murphy Brown," "Drew Carey," "Ellen," "Coach," "USA High."

Harris, Lindsay and Weygandt join a cast that includes Kathy Fitzgerald as Madame Morrible.

The company also features Emily Behny (Nessarose), John Hillner (Dr. Dillamond), Matt Shingledecker (Fiyero), Lee Slobotkin (Boq) and Alyssa Fox (Standby for Elphaba) with Kerry Blanchard, Jane Brockman, Lindsey Brett Carothers, Bridie Carroll, Antonette Cohen, Haley Ann Dorling, Michael Drolet, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Kelly D. Felthous, Natalie Fotopoulos, Lauren Haughton, Zach Hensler, Joel Ingram, Ryan Jackson, Becca Kloha, Amy Quanbeck, Jay Reynolds Jr., Wayne Schroder, Jonathan Shew, Mark Shunkey, Madeline Trumble, Nicky Venditti and Justin Wirick.

Harris, Lindsay and Weygandt will join Wicked in conjunction with the tour's opening in Fresno, CA. Wicked will play April 2-13 at the Saroyan Theatre. Tickets are available at the Convention Center box office, Ticketmaster.com/wicked, by calling 800.745.3000 and at all Ticketmaster outlets.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, Academy Award-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething"), Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues) and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How To Succeed...).

Based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked, winner of over 50 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards, is the untold story of the witches of Oz. It is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

WICKED has been declared "A Cultural Phenomenon" by Variety and "The Best Musical of the Decade" by Entertainment Weekly. Wicked currently has nine productions around the world, in New York, London, Japan (Tokyo), Australia, Asian Tour (Manila), South Korea (Seoul), Latin America (Mexico City), a U.K. Tour (Dublin), and two concurrent North American National Tours. Since its New York premiere a decade ago, Wicked has grossed over $3.2 billion worldwide and has been seen by over 40 million across the globe. Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 13 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, and Mexico) and has thus far been translated into five languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, and Korean.

Grammy Award-Winning Cast recording available on Decca Broadway. For more information about Wicked log on to www.wickedthemusical.com.