Earlier today it was announced via a social media campaign that the award-winning Dutch star Willemijn Verkaik will join the West End cast of Wicked to play Elphaba from November. It has now been confirmed that she will join the musical from Monday 18th November 2013.
Sadly this means Louise Dearman will play her final performance as Elphaba on Saturday 16th November 2013. Willemijn has previously played the iconic role for more than 1,000 performances in Holland, Germany and most recently on Broadway. In the hit musical’s decade-long history, she is the only actress to perform the role in more than one language.
Willemijn Verkaik said: “It has been my great honour to have played ‘Elphaba’ in Wicked in Germany, Holland and on Broadway, and to have been part of this musical's incredible international success. 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.”
Michael McCabe, UK Executive Producer said: “Since its Broadway debut 10 years ago, Wicked has become a truly global phenomenon and 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 15th November 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 6th November 2011 and made her Broadway debut at the Gershwin Theatre on 12th February 2013.
She has won multiple awards in Europe for her performance and received a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award nomination for ‘Best Takeover’. Willemijn studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory and originally pursued a career in the music industry before making the transition to musical theatre. In addition to Elphaba, she has played ‘Scaramouche' and 'Killer Queen' in the Queen/Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You; ‘Amneris’ in Tim Rice and Elton John’s Aida (Da Capo Award for ‘Best Musical Performer’); and the title role in Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay’s musical Elisabeth, based on the story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
Willemijn has made numerous concert and television appearances across Europe and can be heard on two Scott Alan albums, Live and What I Wanna Be When I Grow Up. She can also be heard on the Original German Cast Recording of Wicked and performs ‘Solang ich dich hab’ (As Long As You’re Mine) and ‘Gutes tun’ (No Good Deed) on the special 5th Anniversary edition of the Original Broadway Cast Recording.
The Olivier Award-winning London production of Wicked is already the 16th longest-running West End musical of all time and has now been seen by over 5 million people since its London premiere in 2006. While continuing its record-breaking, open-ended run at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, a major new production will tour the UK and Ireland, opening at Manchester’s Palace Theatre in September 2013.
Casting for the tour and further casting for the West End production is yet to be announced.
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