Wicked - Alexia Khadime joins cast
Story by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FROM June 9 to November 29, 2008, Alexia Khadime who is currently starring as Nala in Disney’s The Lion King, will play Wicked‘s Elphaba at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
She takes over from Kerry Ellis who will be reprising the role on Broadway before returning to the London production on December 1, 2008.
Khadime, the first black actress to be cast as the green-skinned Elphaba, originally joined the cast of The Lion King in 2001 when she was only 17. She has been playing Nala since May 2005 when she returned to the production. Her other theatre credits include Whistle Down the Wind and Leader of the Pack (on tour), and Cinderella the Musical (Hackney Empire).
Previously Posted: From June 9, 2008, Desmond Barrit will take over the role of the Wizard from its originator, Nigel Planer, in the hit musical Wicked which is currently booking until April 4, 2009 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
Barrit, who is currently appearing as Hector in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys at Wyndham’s Theatre, is no stranger to musical theatre having previously appeared in HMS Pinafore (Open Air Theatre) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre).
His other theatre credits include Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Stuff Happens, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Black Comedy and The Comedy of Errors.
Wicked tells the incredible story of an extraordinary friendship between two girls – the blond and popular Glinda and the misunderstood green girl, Elphaba, whose destiny is to become the Wicked Witch of the West.
The show, which opened on Broadway in 2003, premiered in London in September 2006, and has now been seen by over 1.2 million people and taken £40 million at the box office.
The current cast includes Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, Dianne Pilkington as Glinda, Oliver Tompsett as Fiyero, Susie Blake as Madame Morrible (Harriet Thorpe from April 14), James Gillan as Boq, Andy Mace as Doctor Dillamond and Katie Rowley Jones as Nessarose.
Based on Gregory Maguire’s book Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and is directed by Joe Mantello.