Former Joseph star Lee Mead is to join the cast of Wicked from 10 May, playing the princely Fiyero in the musical about the two witches from L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.
Mead joins Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman, who have already been confirmed in the lead roles of Elphaba and Glinda from 29 March. Also appearing in the new cast are Julie Legrand as Madame Morrible, Clive Carter as the Wizard, Cassandra Compton as Nessarose, Julian Forsyth as Doctor Dillamond and George Ure as Boq.
Mead was already a musical theatre actor before he appeared in the BBC TV show Any Dream Will Do, winning the chance to play the lead role in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi theatre, which he did until January 2009. His Wicked debut comes slightly later than the rest of the new cast as he is currently playing the title role in Oscar Wilde’s Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime on tour until 24 April.
In the meantime, Mead’s former Any Dream Will Do colleague Lewis Bradley is to play Fiyero from 29 March to 10 May.
Wicked Executive Producer Michael McCabe said: “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.”
Wicked opened at the Apollo Victoria in September 2006 after a Tony Award-winning run on Broadway. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, the musical tells the story of two unlikely friends – one blonde and beautiful, one green-skinned and misunderstood – who meet at college and end up as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. Stephen Schwartz’s score includes the songs Popular, Defying Gravity and For Good.
CB