Nicholas McLean to join Wicked in the West End

Casting for the role of Boq in the West End production of Wicked has been announced.

From Monday 20 January 2020, Nicholas McLean (Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon) will take on the part at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, joining a cast led by Nikki Bentley, Helen Woolf and Alistair Brammer.

Idriss Kargbo will play his the final performance on 9 November 2019, with George Ure then taking over in the role for two months from Monday 11 November 2019 to Saturday 18 January 2020.

Also appearing in the piece are Kim Ismay (Madame Morrible), Andy Hockley (The Wizard), Simeon Truby (Doctor Dillamond), Natasha Ferguson (Nessarose, maternity cover for Carina Gillespie), Laura Pick (standby for Elphaba) and Lisa-Anne Wood (standby for Glinda).

Wicked continues to run in the West End and is currently booking until 23 May 2020. Based on the best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire, which re-imagines the stories and characters created by L Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the show charts the untold story of an unlikely friendship between Glinda the Good and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.

It has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, and features the songs "Defying Gravity", "Popular" and "The Wizard and I".

The musical had its UK premiere in London in September 2006, winning four WhatsOnStage Awards that year before going on to win the Best West End Show award in 2010, 2011 and 2017 (when it drew with Les Misérables).