Wicked Returns Lee Mead to Musicals, Full Cast

After making his play debut in of Oscar Wilde’s Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, which opened on 12 January in Windsor and continues on tour until 24 April (See News, 21 Oct 2009), Any Dream Will Do winner Lee Mead will return to the West End musical stage to star as Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria.

Mead will join the new cast from 10 May, preceded from 29 March to 8 May by Lewis Bradley, who competed with him on Any Dream Will Do and also went on to star in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Both men will star opposite another BBC reality TV star, Rachel Tucker, from I’d Do Anything, who is the new Elphaba opposite new Glinda, Louise Dearman, from 29 March (See News, 15 Jan 2010).

In a statement today, Lee Mead said: “I’m really excited to be returning to the West End in this incredible musical. Fiyero is a fantastic part and I’m looking forward to joining Rachel Tucker, Louise Dearman and the brilliant new cast at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.”

Wicked tells the “untold story” of the Witches of Oz – popular blonde Glinda, aka the Good Witch of the North, and her spin-victim friend Elphaba – who were both immortalised in the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz. The musical, which opened at the Apollo Victoria in September 2007 after success on Broadway, has a book by Winnie Holtzman, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It’s directed by Joe Mantello.

Other new cast members from 29 March announced today are: Clive Carter (a Whatsonstage.com Award nominee for Priscilla Queen of the Desert – as the Wizard), Julie Legrand (Madam Morrible), Cassandra Compton (Nessarose), Julian Forsyth (Doctor Dillamond), George Ure (Boq) and Nikki Davis-Jones (Elphaba standby), with original London cast member Sarah Earnshaw continuing as Glinda standby.

Wicked executive producer Michael McCabe said today: “With a wealth of musical theatre experience already under his belt, Lee was, from the outset, the one to watch in the BBC’s Any Dream Will Do. His much deserved win and subsequent performance in Joseph proved that he was an outstandingly talented leading man. I am really delighted that he has now chosen to make his return to the West End as Fiyero in Wicked alongside a fantastic new cast that will take us into our fifth year.”

The full cast from 29 March will also include: Alex Louize Bird, Gareth Chart, Joe Colasanti, Emma Green, Lauren James Ray, Shirley Jameson, Daniel Jones, Jasmine Kerr, Matt Krzan, Sophie Linder-Lee, Danny Mac, Lucy Newton, Sauri Oda, Sean Parkins, Soeli Parry, Michelle Pentecost, Paul Saunders, Niall Sheehy, Tommy Sherlock, Thomas Sutcliffe, Jennifer Tierney, Hannah Toy, Stevie Tate-Bauer, Jack Wilcox and Sam Wilmott.