Wicked, “one of the most successful musicals of all time” (BBC News), will fly back into the Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 5 March to Sunday 7 April 2024, and producers have today announced that the cast will be led by former West End ‘Elphaba’ Laura Pick.

Tickets will go on sale to Birmingham Hippodrome Friends and Patrons on Monday 6 March 2023 at 11am and on general sale Thursday 9 March 2023 at 11am. Tickets can be booked at www.birminghamhippodrome.com or by calling 0844 338 5000*.

Tonight, Monday 27 February 2023, Laura Pick will perform one of the musicals most iconic songs, ‘Defying Gravity’, as the BBC records ‘Big Night of Musicals’ at Manchester’s AO Arena. The television broadcast of the musical extravaganza is set for the Spring.

Laura Pick (Elphaba) was born in Wakefield and trained at Mountview. She made her London stage debut in July 2013 in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Her West End journey in Wicked began in 2017, when she was cast as the Standby for ‘Elphaba’. Laura subsequently assumed the starring role full-time, playing ‘Elphaba’ in the West End at more than 350 performances to huge acclaim.

Laura Pick said: “I’m thrilled to be leading the UK & Ireland tour cast of Wicked and to be given the opportunity to continue my journey in the unique and extraordinary role of Elphaba, which first began for me in the West End in 2017. Wicked has been a life and career-changing show for me and I am very proud to be part of the cast bringing this incredible musical to audiences in Birmingham.” 

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 at the Birmingham Hippodrome will now get to experience her thrilling vocals and passionate portrayal of Elphaba from Tuesday 5 March 2024.”

Further casting to be announced.

It takes over 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” (The Reviews Hub).

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, that tells the incredible untold story of the Witches of Oz, continues its open-ended run at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, where it is already 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. 

Wicked has won over 100 major international awards including 3 Tony Awards; 6 Drama Desk Awards; 2 Olivier Audience Awards (BBC Radio 2 Audience Award, ITV’s This Morning Audience Award); 11 WhatsOnStage Awards (including 3 for ‘Best West End Show’); 6 Australian Helpmann Awards, and a Grammy.

Wicked 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). It is based on the multimillion-copy best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire and written by Emmy and Tony Award nominee Winnie Holzman (creator of the landmark American television series My So-Called Life). Musical staging is by Tony Award-winner Wayne Cilento with direction by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello.

Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman are currently collaborating on the two-part Universal Pictures film version of Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum.

Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone. Executive Producer (UK & Ireland) Michael McCabe.