Interview: Tom McGowan, London's New Wizard In WICKED!

Hello Tom! Welcome to the West End! How are you enjoying it so far?

I love it. It's been a dream to come over here. This came as a complete surprise, and the timing was perfect as my daughter is having her semester abroad here, studying acting at the Globe, and my wife just joined me this week - so it's all great.

Obviously the role is familiar to you, but how does the production compare to the others that you've been in?

The show is in great shape here, it's a terrific company, the audiences have been just as enthusiastic. There were blocking differences, more physical differences than I thought there'd be, so I had to relearn things - which was good, I've been playing the Wizard on and off for six years, so forcing yourself to do different things keeps the creative juices flowing. I've made adjustments along the way to the other actors - it's one of the fun things about playing the part for so long.

You mention playing the role for six years - Wicked casts tend to come back to their roles, or do very long stints. What is it about the show that keeps the cast so loyal?

They've been incredibly generous to me - topping it off with sending me to the West End for six months. There are always still challenges to playing a part, that's one of the things about live theatre. It's fresh every night, you engage yourself every night to tell that story because there are people out there watching it for the first time. I'm still challenged by the part, I still enjoy playing the part - plus it's a great organisation to work with. They like for people to come in for nine months, give them a break, then put them in somewhere else. That's worked out great for me - just when I seem to need it, Wicked call, and say, "How would you like to come back to us for a while?"

And it inspires great loyalty from its fanbase. How have you found the Wicked fans in England?

They're great! They've been very, very kind so far. There's a group outside the stage door every night, and they've welcomed me to the West End. It's amazing how many have seen me in New York, or in San Francisco, which I did in 2010 for nine months. When you replace somebody, the fans get used to people they've been seeing, and there's an adjustment to new people. Eventually they like change as well! I hear there were fans who camped out to get to see the last performance of the previous cast, then right back in line to get tickets for the first performance of our cast.

Your leading ladies Emma Hatton and Savannah Stevenson have both been with the show for a while - how do they compare to your other Elphies and Glindas?

Every time I saw the show during my rehearsal, it always shocks me they can find people that can sing these parts eight times a week! You think there can't possibly be another woman in the world to sing this - and they keep finding them. It's a great job to have - very challenging for those two, two of the biggest parts ever written singing-wise and acting-wise - and these two girls are just fantastic. My daughter has seen the show probably forty or fifty times and she was just reinspired by both of them. She loves to see the different teams of Elphabas and Glindas, and was so taken with them. They're a great team. And I love working with Liza Sadovy - that Morrible/Wizard pair can go a number of ways, and I really like what we're finding - it's really fun!

Sounds like you're having a wonderful time all in all!

I really am! We've got all our day trips planned - I'm not doing what I usually do, which is rest all day for the show, although I'll have to find some time. I'm here with a great job, but this is the city we had our honeymoon in 27 years ago. We'll do museums, visit the Tower of London, work our way through the list and really be tourists while I'm being a working actor too - it should be really fun.

Tom McGowan plays the Wizard in Wicked.