Former Brookside star Steven Pinder will join the London cast of Olivier Award-winning musical Wicked this summer, taking on the role of Doctor Dillamond in the Oz-set show from 10 August.
Best known as Max Farnham in the Channel 4 soap, a role he played for more than a decade, Pinder brings his performance as the Shiz University professor to the West End after joining the UK touring production of Wicked in 2014.
The actor, who replaces Philip Childs in the musical, joins a cast including Emma Hatton, Savannah Stevenson, Jeremy Taylor, Liza Sadovy, Martyn Ellis, Sam Lupton and Katie Rowley Jones. Pinder, who has also appeared in UK touring productions of Footloose and Keeping Up Appearances, will remain with the cast until 19 September.
Based on the much-loved characters in L Frank Baum’s The Wizard Of Oz, Wicked charts the story of two young sorcery students who go on to fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West, and features a score that includes the now iconic Defying Gravity.
The hugely popular musical, which took home the This Morning Audience Award at the Olivier Awards with MasterCard, has been seen by more than 47 million theatregoers worldwide and is now the 10th longest running musical in the West End.
Featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked is currently booking at the Apollo Victoria Theatre until 30 April 2016.