WICKED Welcomes 12 Millionth Visitor to London's Apollo Victoria Theatre

​WICKED, the West End stage musical phenomenon that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, last night (Tuesday 9 January 2024) welcomed its 12 millionth visitor to London's Apollo Victoria Theatre. Ultan Keena and guests Samuel Spencer and Georgina Woodward attended the performance, the production's 6639th.

“One of the most successful musicals of all time” (BBC News), Wicked opened in London in 2006 and is already the 11th longest-running theatre production in West End history. Winner of more than 100 global awards, the production has now been seen by 65 million people worldwide.

The London production currently stars Alexia Khadime (Elphaba), Lucy St. Louis (Glinda), Ryan Reid (Fiyero), Sophie-Louise Dann (Madame Morrible), Mark Curry (The Wizard), Caitlin Anderson (Nessarose), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Boq), Steven Pinder (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, Jemima Loddy, Joshua Lovell, Rory Maguire, 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. 

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), Lisa-Anne Wood (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.

London performances begin Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm, and Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2.30pm. The following five added shows are also now on sale: Thursday 15 February, Thursday 4 April, Thursday 1 August, Thursday 15 August and Thursday 31 October 2024 all at 2:30pm. Doors open 90 minutes prior to the start of all performances.

Wicked is also touring to cities in England, Scotland, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland until January 2025. Currently at the Edinburgh Playhouse, where it opened to unanimous five-star reviews,  until 14 January 2024, the award-winning production opens at the Bristol Hippodrome on 23 January 2024 and then continues to Birmingham Hippodrome; Bradford Alhambra Theatre; Southampton Mayflower Theatre; Liverpool Empire; Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre; Sunderland Empire; and Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre. The tour will conclude with a 2024/5 Christmas season at the Manchester Palace Theatre, the venue that hosted the tour premiere in September 2013.

Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's celebrated stage musical is based on the acclaimed novel by Gregory Maguire and imagines a beguiling backstory and future possibilities to the lives of L. Frank Baum's beloved characters from ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', revealing the decisions and events that shape the destinies of two unlikely university friends on their journey to becoming ‘Glinda The Good' and the ‘Wicked Witch of the West'.

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.

Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone. Executive Producer (UK) Michael McCabe.

Through its ‘For Good' charitable endeavours and acclaimed Wicked Active Learning cultural and social education programme, the London production of Wicked proudly supports and champions the work of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, the National Literacy Trust, and Theatre Works!, the charity providing theatre tickets to disadvantaged children across the UK. 

Wicked Worldwide

A "global sensation" (Independent), Wicked has already been seen by 65 million people around the world. Winner of over 100 global awards, Joe Mantello's production has already been performed in over 130 cities in 16 countries (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, China, and Switzerland) and has also been translated into six languages.

Broadway

The Tony Award-winning Broadway production premiered on 30 October 2003 (with previews from 8 October 2003) and has now played almost 8,000 performances at the Gershwin Theatre. Now in its 21st year, it is the 4th longest-running theatre production in Broadway history.

London

Wicked premiered in the West End on 27 September 2006 (with previews from 7 September 2006) and has played more than 6,500 performances at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Now in its 18th year and already the 11th longest-running theatre production in West End history, the award-winning show has been acclaimed as "a devilishly clever spin on The Wizard of Oz" (The Daily Telegraph); "one of the West End's true modern classics" (Metro); "the biggest thing in musicals since The Phantom of the Opera opened" (The Times), and “one of the biggest hits of our age” (The Observer).

Background

When Dorothy famously triumphed over the Wicked Witch, we only ever heard one side of the story. Gregory Maguire's "outstanding novel" (Independent), 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West', ingeniously re-imagined the Land of Oz, creating a parallel universe to the familiar story written by L. Frank Baum and first published as 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' in 1900. "One of the most influential children's stories of all time" (The Times), it was to be the first in an eventual series of fourteen Oz tales written by Baum (with many more by other writers) and subsequently also the inspiration for multiple successful adaptations, most famously the 1939 Hollywood musical version, ‘The Wizard of Oz', starring Judy Garland.

Story

Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two young women who first meet as sorcery students at Shiz University: the blonde and very popular Glinda and a misunderstood green girl named Elphaba. Following an encounter with The Wizard, their friendship reaches a crossroads, and their lives take very different paths. Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power while Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences for her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. Enter a world rich with imagination and allegory and discover the unforgettable origin story of the Witches of Oz…

Creative Team

Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Winnie Holzman and is based on the novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire. It is directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. Scenic design is by Eugene Lee, costumes by Susan Hilferty, lighting by Kenneth Posner, sound by Tony Meola, projection designs by Elaine J. McCarthy and Hair and Wig designs by Tom Watson. Music arrangements are by Alex Lacamoire and Stephen Oremus, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott, orchestrations by William David Brohn, and musical supervision by Stephen Oremus