UK’s Wicked Gets New Additions of Tucker and Dearman as Elphaba and Glinda

Wicked London, which Entertainment Weekly magazine recently named Best Musical of the Decade, has announced their 2010 cast. Rachel Tucker will be playing Elphaba and Louise Dearman will be playing Glinda, in the most sought after female roles on the West End.

Rachel Tucker from Belfast may be recognized by Irish Wicked fans from her time as a co-presenter for The Friday Show with Eamonn Holmes on BBC Northern Ireland. However Rachel is also a veteran of musical theatre. She recently finished playing the role of Meat in We Will Rock You, the Ben Elton/Queen musical, at Dominion theatre. She also made it to the semi-finals for I’d Do Anything, the extremely popular BBC1 series. Rachel, in fact, isn’t a stranger of Oz either. She played in the Wizard of Oz in the role of Dorothy at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. In her role as Dorothy she was nominated for the TMA Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Louise Dearman joins Wicked off of her highly acclaimed Eva Person portrayal in the UK’s national tour for Evita. Dearman, in her new Glinda role, will mark the actress’ return back to the West End. She appeared previously at Piccadilly Theatre in the musical Guys and Dolls. Dearman is also wrapping up her title role in Cinderella playing opposite Mickey Rooney, the musical theatre legend.

As Louise and Rachel are welcome in, Wicked London will also be saying farewell to the musical’s Future Award winners and current leading ladies, Alexia Khadime in the role of Elphaba and Dianne Pilkington playing Glinda. Their final performances will be on Saturday March 27, 2010.

The news from Wicked London came shortly after the production on Broadway in New York welcomed Katie Rose Clarke into the role of Glinda and Jenny Fellner as the new Nessarose. The two replaced Erin Mackey, formerly in the role of Glinda, and Michelle Federer, who played Nessarose, on January 14. Clarke and Fellner joined Dee Roscioli in the role of Elphaba at the Gershwin Theatre in New York.

By Julie Harmon On January 15, 2010

All photos made available via creative commons licensing courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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