A WEST Yorkshire actress has been announced as the star of Wicked, when the hit musical comes to Bradford's Alhambra Theatre.
Laura Pick will star as Elphaba and tonight she will perform the showstopper Defying Gravity on BBC’s Big Night of Musicals at Manchester's AO Arena. The TV broadcast of the musical extravaganza is set for broadcast this spring.
Wicked - the magical 'untold story' of the Witches of Oz - flies back to the Alhambra from April 16, 2024 to May 19, 2024.
Laura made her London stage debut in 2013, in The Sound of Music. Her West End journey in Wicked began in 2017 when she was cast as the standby for Elphaba. She later took on the role full-time, playing Elphaba in the West End at more than 350 performances, to huge acclaim.
Pic: Matt Crockett
Said Laura: “As a Yorkshire girl, playing at the Bradford Alhambra is so exciting for me! I grew up in Wakefield and first auditioned to be a part of Escape Youth Theatre at the age of seven.
"That’s when my passion for theatre really started. I then pretty much wanted to be a part of every youth am-dram group going, and joined the Lamplighters in Barnsley. When I was 12, I went to an audition for Fame at the Theatre Royal, Wakefield, not expecting to be accepted and left with a lead role. So many performers currently working in big West End productions also started there. Taking part in all these shows with these groups only proved more and more that this was what I wanted to do.
"I also went to Saturday classes in Leeds at Scala Performing Arts where morning singing lessons always included at least one Wicked song!
As I got older, I branched out and joined Harrogate St Andrew's Players and performed in Harrogate and Leeds Amateur Operatic Society, and got to perform in Sweeney Todd at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Car journeys to all these rehearsals and performances always required a rendition of Defying Gravity on the way - my poor mum!
"I always, always wanted to perform at the Alhambra in Bradford and just never quite had the opportunity, so finally knowing I’m going to be on that stage, with my absolute favourite musical in the world, is really so exciting. I just feel like I’m coming home!”
Michael McCabe, Executive Producer (UK & Ireland) of Wicked said: “Laura Pick’s powerhouse performance wowed West End audiences at more than 350 performances and we’re excited that
audiences in her home county of Yorkshire will now get to experience her thrilling vocals and passionate portrayal of Elphaba from Tuesday 16 April 2024.”
Further casting is to be announced.
It takes more than 100 people on-stage and behind the scenes to deliver performances of this award-winning touring production of Wicked. Featuring all the celebrated spectacle, magic, technical wizardry, and more than 350 stunning costumes, this touring production has been acclaimed as “every bit the West End show”.
Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s musical, based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, imagines a beguiling backstory and future possibilities to the lives of L Frank Baum's beloved characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and reveals the decisions and events that shape the destinies of two unlikely university friends on their journey to becoming Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
The West End and Broadway musical phenomenon continues its open-ended run at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre, where it is the 12th longest-running production in West End history.
Wicked has now been seen by more than 60 million people worldwide, and 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of its Broadway premiere. Productions continue on Broadway, in the West End and on tour across North America. This year, Wicked will also return to Sydney, Australia and Tokyo, Japan.
The show, which has won more than 100 international awards, features songs by multi-Oscar and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Disney's Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted).
* Tickets are now on sale for Wicked at the Bradford Alhambra. Visit bradford-theatres.co.uk or call (01274) 432000.
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