Wicked star heads to Broadway

Kerry Ellis, currently starring as Elphaba in the smash hit musical WICKED at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, is to recreate her award-winning performance on Broadway. Harriet Thorpe is to star as ‘Madame Morrible’ in the smash hit musical WICKED at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre from Monday 14 April 2008.

Kerry will play her final performance in London on 7 June 2008 before beginning performances at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre on 17 June 2008. Following her Broadway engagement, Kerry will return to the London production later in the year.

Kerry Ellis was the first British actor to play Elphaba, receiving unanimous rave reviews, and she has just won a 2008 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award for her performance. She is currently working on her debut album, which is being produced by Brian May, for release later this year.

Harriet Thorpe is to star as ‘Madame Morrible’ in the smash hit musical WICKED at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre from Monday 14 April 2008.

From early television success in the BBC’s hugely popular comedy series The Brittas Empire, where she famously played the receptionist whose children lived under the counter, to her recent highly acclaimed performance as ‘Mrs Lovett’ in the national tour of Sweeney Todd opposite Jason Donovan, Harriet Thorpe is one the UK’s most popular and successful actors.

She has enjoyed a long-standing association with Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French, starring with them in Girls on Top; French & Saunders (numerous appearances including the ‘Countess of Hertzegovina’ in The House of Idiot and ‘Molly Brown’ in their version of Titanic); Absolutely Fabulous, where she and Helen Lederer played Patsy’s colleagues ‘Fleur’ and ‘Catriona’ respectively; two episodes of Murder Most Horrid and, most recently, as journalist ‘Janey Evans’ in The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.

Her prolific stage career has included working with the directors Richard Eyre, David Hare, John Doyle, John Caird, Peter Gill, Howard Davies, Michael Attenborough, Rachel Kavanagh, Timothy Sheader and Rufus Norris. Her numerous film appearances include the wonderfully haughty head of the W.I. in Calendar Girls and she has just completed filming The Calling with Brenda Blethyn and S.N.U.B. with Gary Mavers.

Based on Gregory Maguire's best-selling novel, the award-winning WICKED tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz and why one came to be called ‘good’ and the other ‘wicked’.

The award-winning, record-breaking hit musical has now been seen by over a million theatregoers since its London premiere in September 2006, taking over £40 million at the Box Office to date. The production has also recouped its entire original capitalisation. Booking has recently been extended again and tickets are currently on sale until April 2009.

WICKED currently stars Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, Dianne Pilkington as Glinda, Oliver Tompsett as Fiyero, Susie Blake as Madame Morrible (until 12 April 2008) and Nigel Planer as The Wizard. Cast subject to change from 9 June 2008. Harriet Thorpe will play Madame Morrible from 14 April 2009.

WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Winnie Holzman, musical staging by Wayne Cilento and is directed by Joe Mantello. It is based on the novel, Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire.

Official UK website: WickedTheMusical.co.uk