Wicked, the enchanting Oz-set London musical, knows how to celebrate a birthday in the Dubsmash era; invite some friends over, whack on one of your favourite songs and lip sync away like you’re Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson giving it the full-on Taylor Swift treatment.
What more could it want, other than a big green chocolate cake of course, to mark its impending ninth birthday this weekend?
But, like a popular kid living in a tiny bungalow, Wicked couldn’t ask all its friends over to celebrate. Fitting the millions in would be a magic trick beyond even Elphaba’s temperamental abilities. So on International Friendship Day – the first Sunday in August, since you asked – it launched a competition to find the friends to join in this very special mime-tastic party.
The winners, Kirsty Downes, Daniela Agnello, Kate Levy, Milly Smith, George and Emma Sothcott, Paige and Angela Rudd, headed off to a studio to channel their inner Elphabas and Glindas, only to be surprised by their stage counterparts Emma Hatton and Savannah Stevenson. Take a look at what happened above, then grab a chum and watch it again while singing along and looking deeply into their eyes.
Hatton and Stevenson play the two sorcery students central to the story of Wicked, a tale of school, unlikely friendship and the twisting of the truth by unscrupulous political types. The double Olivier Audience Award winner opened at the Apollo Victoria in September 2006, and has since entertained nearly seven million theatregoers.
If the #ForGood video has spurred you to celebrate a special friendship with a trip to see Wicked, you can book tickets through us here.