Donna Vivino Soars as Elphaba in WICKED Tour Starting 11/5

The North American tour of WICKED, Broadway's biggest blockbuster, welcomes a new Elphaba starting tomorrow, November 5th at The Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis.  The role of The Wicked Witch will be played by Donna Vivino.  Katie Rose Clarke continues as Glinda (the Good Witch), as does Myra Lucretia Taylor as Madame Morrible and Lenny Wolpe as The Wizard.

Donna Vivino became a proud member of Actors' Equity at age 8 playing Young Cosette in the original Broadway cast of Les Miserables.  Since then, she has appeared on Broadway in Saturday Night Fever, Hairspray, and opposite Martin Short in Fame Becomes Me.  Donna also originated the role of Enid Hoopes in the pre-Broadway workshop of Legally Blonde.  Most recently, she was the Elphaba standby on the tour.

Katie Rose Clarke has been playing Glinda in the North American tour of WICKED since November 2007.  Prior to that, she portrayed the role of Clara Johnson in the Broadway production, live PBS broadcast and national tour of The Light in the Piazza.  Other credits include the debut of Craig Lucas' new play, Prayer for My Enemy, at the Long Wharf Theatre, as well as Anything Goes at Theatre Under the Stars.

Myra Lucretia Taylor's many Broadway credits include Nine, Macbeth, Electra, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and A Streetcar Named Desire, to name a few.  Myra was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and performed with the company in London and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Lenny Wolpe created the role of The Wizard in the original Los Angeles workshops of WICKED.  His Broadway credits include The Drowsy Chaperone, The Sound of Music, Copperfield, Into the Light, and Onward Victoria.  In television, Lenny was a series regular in "Baby Talk" and "You're The One." And was a guest star on over 80 shows from "L.A. Law," "ER," "Six Feet Under," "And The Band Played On" to "Golden Girls," "Ally McBeal" and "The Chappelle Show."

WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney's Enchanted, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman ("My So Called Life," "Once And Again" and "thirtysomething") based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire

The musical is directed by 2003 and 2004 Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Assassins, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues, GlenGarry Glenn Ross) and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who's Tommy, How To Succeed...).  WICKED, winner of 20 major awards, including a Grammy® Award and 3 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.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz.  One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.  WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

The North American tour of WICKED, which has been seen by over 4 million people and broken the house record in every single city in which it has played, will continue to fly into cities across North America.  Upcoming tour stops include:

Minneapolis: Orpheum Theatre November 5-Dec 7, 2008, Detroit: Opera House   Dec 10, 2008 - Jan 4, 2009, Louisville :Kentucky Center January 7-February 1, 2009,Appleton: Fox Cities Performing Arts Center February 4-March 1, 2009, Portland:Keller Auditorium March 4-April 5, 2009, Salt Lake City: Capitol Theatre April 8-May 3, 2009, Omaha: Orpheum Theatre May 6-31, 2009, San Antonio: Majestic Theatre June 3-28, 2009, Tempe: Gammage Auditorium July 1-26, 2009

Additional cities will be announced in the future.

For more information about WICKED, visit www.wickedthemusical.com