Wicked - Adam Garcia confirmed
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
IT HAS now been confirmed that Adam Garcia will star alongside Idina Menzel when Wicked opens at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre on September 27, 2006.
Garcia will play Fiyero – a prince who sweeps Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, off her feet – a role he helped develop in the 2002 workshop of Wicked in New York.
It was Garcia who created the role of Tony Manero in the stage premiere of Saturday Night Fever at the London Palladium back in 1998, and for which he was Olivier nominated for Best Actor in a Musical.
His other stage credits include Grease, Birdy, Hot Shoe Shuffle and Where Do We Live? (at the Royal Court). Most recently, he was seen as Chip in the English National Opera’s production of On the Town at the London Coliseum.
His screen credits include Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion, Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Body in the Library and Riot at the Rite (TV); and Riding in Cars with Boys, Standing Still, The First 20 Million Is Always the Hardest, Wilde and Coyote Ugly (film).
Further casting for Wicked is expected to be announced next week.
Previously Posted: Idina Menzel will reprise her Tony Award-winning performance as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, when the hit Broadway musical Wicked opens at the Apollo Victoria on September 27, 2006.
Menzel originated the role of Elphaba when Wicked opened on Broadway in October 2003. She went on to win the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, before eventually leaving the show in January 2005.
Her other New York credits include Rent (for which she was Tony-nominated for the first time), Aida, Hair, The Wild Party, See what I Wanna See and The Vagina Monologues.
Menzel will appear in the London production of Wicked for a limited season, before handing over the role to a British actress.
Previously Posted: Stephen Schwartz’s Tony award-winning musical, Wicked, will open on September 27, 2006 (previews from September 7) at London’s Apollo Victoria theatre.
Since its October 2003 premiere, Wicked has recently become Broadway’s highest-grossing show and has been seen by 1.75 million people.
Described by producer David Stone as “smart, passionate and original”, Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, the 1939 film which starred a young Judy Garland.
Set in the Emerald City before the arrival of Dorothy and Toto, it tells how Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, first met Elphaba, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West.
Wicked was adapted from the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West whose author, Gregory Maguire, was inspired by the demonisation of Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the first Gulf War.
Its message is a simple one: don’t judge people on appearances alone.
Music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz whose other credits include Pippin and Godspell; with Popular, No One Mourns the Wicked, The Wizard and I, I’m Not That Girl and The March of the Witch Hunters just some of the songs on offer.
Wicked is likely to be one of the most expensive musicals ever seen in the West End and although exact figures have not been released, the cost of the production is expected to be between £6 million and £10 million.
Although some script changes will be made to suit British audiences – the college-based scenes, for example – the London production will not be scaled down in any way, so will be as spectacular as its Broadway counterpart.
In fact, Wicked boasts a 40-strong cast, requiring 400 costumes and 80 wigs for each performance; as well as a full orchestra.
Although casting is not expected to be announced until mid-May, Stone has said performers will be British and include “two great actresses” as well as “people that you definitely know”. As he explained: “The land of Oz is a fantasy land. It can just as easily be a British one as an American one.”
Tickets – available from March 5, 2006 – range from £15 to £55.