Wicked has been running on Broadway for 21 years, and it’s finally made it to the big screen with this November’s Wicked. The movie adaptation stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, roles first brought to life onstage by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
But in the show’s long history — not only in New York City but also around the country and in London — dozens of actors and actresses have stepped into the lead roles. Some of those cast members — like the Golden Girls’ Rue McClanahan, Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph and Ben Vereen — were already stars when they joined the show. Others — including Megan Hilty, Aaron Tveit and Adam Lambert — scored the parts toward the beginnings of their careers.
Ahead, revisit some of the stars you might not know have visited Oz in Wicked.
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph, 67, first found acclaim in Broadway’s Dreamgirls in 1981. In 2016, she stepped into Wicked in the role of Shiz headmistress Madame Morrible. She honored her time in the show this November when she attended one of the movie’s premieres and connected with Michelle Yeoh, who plays the character on the big screen.
Back in 2017, Ralph called the musical’s script “so doggone relevant” when speaking to New York Theatre Guide. “In times like these, when so many are confused, the best unifier is to give them someone to hate,” she said. “And then the green girl is so smart, so talented and so prepared and the only reason they hate her and call her wicked is because she is green.”
Rue McClanahan
Rue McClanahan, who died in 2010 at the age of 76, appeared on Broadway many times before she joined Wicked in 2005 as Madame Morrible. “It’s nice to go into a huge hit that’s already running,” she told Broadway.com at the time.
The outlet noted that this wasn’t her first time in Oz — she also appeared in the TV movies Rainbow (1978) and The Dreamer of Oz (1990). She said she didn’t have a connection to Wizard of Oz creator L. Frank Baum “consciously,” but added, “I do see that as some kind of spiritual connection because it just keeps coming along. Isn’t it odd?!”
Taye Diggs
When original Wicked Broadway actor Norbert Leo Butz — who played Fiyero — was briefly absent from the show at the end of 2003 into January 2004, Taye Diggs, now 53, stepped into the role opposite his then-wife Idina Menzel, who was starring as Elphaba.
Ben Vereen
Ben Vereen, 78, was already a Tony winner and Emmy nominee when he joined Wicked as the Wizard in 2005. “My good buddy [Stephen Schwartz] called me and said, ‘I want you to do this for me,’ ” the Roots star told Playbill of the musical’s creator in 2017. “That show has a life of its own.” He told the outlet he loved inhabiting the “magic of the man.”
Jeff Goldblum plays the Wizard in the film.
Annaleigh Ashford
Annaleigh Ashford, 39, was cast to cover Glinda on the first national tour of Wicked in 2005. She later played the role on Broadway in 2007 and in Chicago. Her Broadway career has included starring roles in Legally Blonde, Kinky Boots, Sunday in the Park with George and Sweeney Todd. She’s also crossed over to TV, with roles in Impeachment: American Crime Story and B Positive.
Ana Gasteyer
Comedian Ana Gasteyer, 57, might be best known for her work in Saturday Night Live, Suburgatory and Mean Girls, but she also has serious musical theater chops. She joined the Chicago production of Wicked as Elphaba in 2005, and in 2006 she moved to the Broadway production.
Speaking to Broadway World in 2016, she said that Wicked and SNL were both “grueling” but Wicked was a “physical grind.”
She remembered in a recent interview, “They asked what I remember about Elphaba and I was like, ‘Oh my God, it was so exhausting,’ and that’s like all I could remember. And then I felt really guilty and contrite afterwards like I shouldn’t have said that. And then I opened up the interview to read it, and every single Elphaba was like, ‘Oh my God, it was so f—ing exhausting.’ The common theme of that experience is how grueling it is physically … You’re just not meant to sing that show eight times a week, and managing that becomes your full-time job, as opposed to playing the role.” Gasteyer appeared on Broadway in 2024 in Once Upon a Mattress.
Aaron Tveit
Aaron Tveit, 41, made his Broadway debut as Link in Hairspray in 2006. In 2009, he played another Broadway heartthrob — Wicked’s Fiyero (played by Jonathan Bailey in the movie). In 2011, Tveit starred in the musical Catch Me If You Can with the original Fiyero — Butz — and the pair poked fun at their shared Wicked history with a tight white pants “pants off.”
Tveit later went on to star in 2012’s Les Misérables and 2016’s Grease: Live and TV series like Gossip Girl, Graceland and Schmigadoon!. The Tony winner has also continued to work on Broadway, including in Sweeney Todd and Moulin Rouge!.
Miriam Margolyes
Miriam Margolyes, 83, might be best known in the United States for playing Pomona Sprout in the Harry Potter films, but she’s also a celebrated theater actress who’s performed widely in the U.K. In 2006, she portrayed Madame Morrible when Wicked opened on the West End. She also performed the role on Broadway in 2008.
Carol Kane
Oscar nominee Carol Kane, 72, has stepped into Madame Morrible’s shoes many times. On Broadway, she joined the company in 2006 and again in 2013. She also performed the role on the first national tour and in San Francisco and Los Angeles. “I love that part,” she told Vulture in 2021 when discussing the possibility of a film adaptation.
“What’s so genius about the musical onstage is that they’ve been able to create this complete fantasy world so thoroughly. The sets and the costumes and the special effects, the … automation,” the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star said. “And the lighting and smoke and all of that conspires to feel even more fantasy-like than a movie. And The Wizard of Oz to me is the most magical of those fantasy movies still. It was made so long ago, before they had any of the special effects that they have now, before CGI or green screen, and yet it takes you to another world. And the musical of Wicked does that.”
Joey McIntyre
Joey McIntyre, 51, replaced Butz as Fiyero in 2004. The New Kids on the Block member told Broadway.com in 2004 that acting with Menzel and Jennifer Laura Thompson (who then played Glinda), “It’s like sparring every night with two heavyweights. You have to be on your game and you are always learning and discovering and getting better. And hopefully, you don’t get knocked out.”
“The best part about it is getting to work with so many talented, funny, passionate people and sharing the experience with them,” he added. “I don’t think there is a better place for that than Broadway.” McIntyre later returned to Broadway in Waitress and appeared in other musicals around the country. In 2024, he appeared Off-Broadway in Drag: The Musical.
Adam Lambert
Before he auditioned for American Idol, Adam Lambert, 42, was focused primarily on theater in Los Angeles. “And I always thought, ‘Oh, one of these days I’m going to move to New York. One of these days when I have the right gig, I’m going,’ ” he told Paper Magazine in 2024. “And I was waiting for something to take me. And then I did the national tour of Wicked, and I got to rehearse here in New York. It was a Broadway production, even though it was a tour, and it was rehearsing with a Broadway-caliber creative team and all that. So I was like, ‘Oh, this is pretty much the same thing. I’ve sort of made it to Broadway.’ ” Lambert was in the ensemble and understudied Fiyero.
“I did that for a while, and then Idol happened. I felt like I took that fork in the road and it’s been amazing,” he explained. But in 2024 he made his Broadway debut at the emcee in Cabaret.
Clifton Davis
Clifton Davis, 79, first played Dr. Dillamond (portrayed by Peter Dinklage in the film) on a Wicked national tour in 2012. When live theater returned in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic, he was once again part of the show. “Theater is back, and I am so glad. This impacted so many thousands of people when theaters closed down all over the country,” he told Broadway.com when the show reopened in Dallas.
“It was screaming joy coming from our audience. From the very first note to the very last note — they loved it,” he said. He also said it reminded him of the opening night of his first musical: 1964’s Hello, Dolly!
Davis, who starred in TV shows like That’s My Mama, Amen and Madam Secretary, joined the Wicked Broadway company in 2022. Next, he’ll appear in the new CBS soap opera Beyond the Gates.
Megan Hilty
Megan Hilty, 43, made her Broadway debut in Wicked in 2004 as the standby for Glinda and later took over the role in 2005. She also played the part on tour.
“That was one of the scariest things that I’ve ever done because I was right out of college,” Hilty told The Oklahoman in 2019. “[Kristin] Chenoweth set the bar as high as you could possibly go for that role, so for anybody who was following in her footsteps, it was an incredibly daunting experience.”
Hilty found new fans when she starred in Smash, and she’s currently back on Broadway in Death Becomes Her.
Patty Duke
Patty Duke, who died in 2016 at the age of 69, was best known for playing Helen Keller in the 1962 film The Miracle Worker and for starring in her own eponymous sitcom. She appeared on Broadway three times, and in 2009 she played Madame Morrible in the San Francisco production of Wicked.
“I’ve only played the villain twice, I think, so for me, it’s a nice change,” she told East Bay Times in 2009 about her role. Of her casting, she told the outlet she was a little unclear. “You don’t decide to do it,” she said. “Someone decides they want you to do it, then you get the call. How they decide, you never know.”
Heléne Yorke
Heléne Yorke, 39, is perhaps best known for her hilarious role on The Other Two, but she told TheaterMania in 2021 that she didn’t even realize she was a talented comedian until she was playing Glinda on the national tour back in 2009.
“We were in Birmingham, Alabama. I’d settled into the show at that point, and I was messing up, but I could feel the whole audience buckling over laughing so hard,” she remembered. “It’s the moment where Glinda’s wand doesn’t work. I was cleaning it on my skirt, and then the wand went into my crotch, and I said, ‘Well, it’s gonna work now.’ Birmingham, Alabama, lost it!”
Yorke also revealed in a 2023 interview for Interview Magazine that she auditioned for the Wicked movie. “And I was like, ‘They’re not going to cast me,’ ” she remembered.
Jenna Leigh Green
Jenna Leigh Green, 50, came to fame in her time playing Libby Chessler in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but she also played Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (portrayed by Marissa Bode in the film), on Broadway and on tour. She also understudied Elphaba.
“I truly loved getting to tour the country with Wicked,” she told Broadway Wiz in 2016. “We were bringing the show, for the first time to cities across the nation, as well as Canada and the response was overwhelming and insane. It’s my only touring experience and I doubt anything would ever be able to top it.”
“Obviously coming back to N.Y.C. was a dream come true, as was opening the show in my hometown of Los Angeles,” she added. “Getting to live my dream and knowing my friends and family were close enough to come was like coming home in the best way possible. What more could one ask for!?”
Patti Murin
You’ll recognize Patti Murin, 44, from her time on Chicago Med, but she got her start in musical theater. In 2012, she played Glinda on the national tour. But at the time, she was thinking of leaving the theater. She had just filmed a pilot that CBS passed on. “Pretty much right after that, Wicked called and I was like, ‘I could go back to theater and do a show that people might come and see!’ ” she told Broadway.com in 2012.
“I can’t believe someone is letting me have this much fun,” she added of the show. “[Elphaba and Glinda] are two of the most fantastically written female parts in all of musical theater. It’s a wonderful look at these two women and their complex relationship.” Murin later played Princess Anna in Frozen on Broadway.
Rondi Reed
Rondi Reed, known for her Tony-winning performance in August: Osage County as well as CBS’s Mike & Molly, stepped into Madame Morrible’s shoes on Broadway (twice) and on tour. “The first thing I did when I got cast was I went out and bought the book Wicked,” the 72-year-old told Playbill in 2017. “And there’s a lot of backstory in there about Morrible that is not in the show, but it informs a lot.”
Reed was known mostly for her dramatic acting before Wicked. “My big dreamy dream, as I said to my agent in Chicago who laughed at me in the face, was being in a big Broadway musical,” she told Playbill. “And it doesn’t get any bigger than this, really.”
Sebastian Arcelus
Sebastian Arcelus — known for roles on Madam Secretary and House of Cards — played Fiyero on tour before joining the show on Broadway in 2007. And his casting changed his life. Opposite him in Wicked as Elphaba was Stephanie J. Block (who had first played the role in workshops before Menzel was cast). Arcelus, 48, and Block, 52, fell in love and married. They also starred opposite each other again in Into the Woods in 2022.
Justin Guarini
Justin Guarini, 46, will always be most known for finishing second to Kelly Clarkson in the first season of American Idol, but he’s also appeared on Broadway multiple times. He told TheaterMania in 2014 that he got cast as Fiyero in Wicked after the show’s director saw him in Romeo and Juliet on Broadway in 2013.
“I’ve been sort of spoiled at certain points in my life, and in considering Fiyero I imagine how that old version of me would behave if somebody, like Elphaba, woke me up after I had been out partying all night and started yelling at me,” he told the outlet about his approach to the role. “I try to find my own wacky sense of humor and physical comedy. I get to go to the darker, more serious side of who I am, and show two facets of my personality.”
Ashley Parker Angel
Former O-Town member Ashley Parker Angel, 43, stepped into Fiyero’s iconic boots in 2017. He told Broadway.com in 2017 that he had first dreamed of being in the show a decade earlier, when he starred as Link Larkin in Hairspray. “When my agent called [about doing the show], I jumped at the chance,” he said.
He also talked about joining the “brotherhood of the tight white pants.” He said, “It’s kind of cool because when you actually get suited up with all your costumes, there’s this huge warehouse you go to. And they have every Wicked costume through the years; you can go by actor, so I was like walking down the hallway of Fiyeros, and it was like, ‘Oh, you’ve got Joey McIntyre, you’ve got Adam Lambert, you’ve got Aaron Tveit…’ You’ve got just this amazing Brotherhood of the Tight White Pants. It’s awesome to be a part of that.”
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