Hit musical Wicked will soar into its eighth year in the West End next year having extended its booking period until 1 November 2014.
The Olivier Award-winning production has been bringing the story of two sorcery students who go on to become Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West to the Apollo Victoria theatre since its 2006 London opening, where it has now treated more than five million Oz-loving theatregoers to its musical tale.
The spellbinding show’s current cast, which includes Louise Dearman, Gina Beck, Ben Freeman, Harriet Thorpe and Keith Bartlett, will be succeeded on 18 November by international star Willemijn Verkaik as the production’s iconic emerald-hued lead character Elphaba alongside Savannah Stevenson (Glinda), Jeremy Taylor (Fiyero), Sue Kelvin (Madame Morrible), Sam Kelly (Wizard) and Paul Clarkson (Doctor Dillamond).
Featuring a hugely popular score by Stephen Schwartz, which includes Defying Gravity, The Wizard And I, For Good, Popular and I’m Not That Girl, Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, features a book by Winnie Holzman and is directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.
Tickets for the new booking period, which marks a gravity-defying 16th extension for the production, go on sale on 2 September, giving theatregoers the chance to book for the musical more than a year in advance.