Willemijn Verkaik plays Elphaba in Wicked from 18 Nov

Dutch actress Willemijn Verkaik will take over from Louise Dearman as Elphaba in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria from 18 November 2013.

Verkaik is the only actress to have played the role in multiple languages, having appeared in Germany, Holland and on Broadway.

She said: “I am overjoyed, and sincerely grateful, that the producers have now invited me to make my West End debut playing this extraordinary role in the musical that has literally changed my life.”

Wicked‘s UK executive producer Michael McCabe added: “Nobody personifies the show’s international appeal more than Willemijn, who has performed the role of Elphaba in three languages in three different countries. We are thrilled that London audiences will now get the opportunity to experience Willemijn’s incredible performance, for which she has been so justly acclaimed.”

Willemijn Verkaik made her debut as Elphaba in the German language production of Wicked on November 15, 2007 at
the Palladium Theater in Stuttgart and subsequently at the Metronom Theater in Oberhausen. She reprised the role in the
Dutch language premiere production, opening at the AFAS Circustheater on November 6, 2011 and made her Broadway
debut at the Gershwin Theatre on 12 February 2013.

Her other credits include Scaramouche and Killer Queen in We Will Rock
You; Amneris in Aida; and the title role in Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay’s musical Elisabeth, based on the story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Louise Dearman will play her final performance as Elphaba on Saturday 16 November 2013.