Katie's contract ends in November. As much as I'd like for Laura to return to Wicked, it won't happen because of the way she left. She originally supposed to replace Kristin, but she was let go because she and the producers couldn't agree on a contract.

How'd she leave?

Just kidding....I guess I didn't read the rest of your post haha. Wow, ok I feel dumb.

Re LA casting stuff, we also need to keep in mind that Emily Rozek is due back from maternity leave at the end of September...her last show was at the end of March, and she is off for 6 months. I have no idea if she'll be back as lead or standby, but she IS under contract to come back then.

(SHAKES HEAD IN FEAR OF LOSING MY MIND)

Someone on another board said PJ Bejamin will replace Lenny as the Wizard.

Wicked like promising upgrades then disagreeing on them don't they

I would love that! PJ was a great Wizard!

I hope that they are not planning a reunion for the 2007 national tour cast. I'm fine if PJ and Babara Tirrell replace Lenny and Jayne, but I hope that Victoria doesn't join the Broadway cast as Elphaba. I also don't mind Christina at all, but Julie, Carmen, Lisa, Dee, and Teal (she may go to San Francisco though) are all much better than Victoria. I also hope that Katie Rose Clarke is the next Broadway Glinda.

Amen.


I do


Teal (she will go to San Fransisco though)

I just have to say that I would be a very very happy camper if Emily were to return to Wicked LA.
She is pretty much the most adorable Glinda and I miss her terribly.
And I honestly think she deserves to be lead, if not in LA, then in SF.

On the JLG note- vocally, she could handle the role... for a few months. I saw her when she was an understudy for Stephanie on tour and she was actually really good.

Speaking of JLG as Elphie, I have a question: Was Victoria brought in as the standby while JLG and Maria (or Marcie) were still both covering Elphaba on tour - i.e. does that mean that it would've been the first time that there have been two understudies, plus a standby, covering Elphie? Is that the only cast that's ever happened in?

Victoria didn't join the tour till Jenna left for Broadway to play Nessarose. She joined the tour the same day as Julia, Alma, PJ, and Jennifer Weldman.

I doubt it would be JLG if shes doing this west end charity thing, surely shes got commitments here?

There's a new rumor that Kate and Eden will return to their respective roles in November on Wikipedia, but I don't know about that...

EDIT: Double-post

I'd take that with a grain of salt.

God, Eden needs to stay clear of WICKED. At least for a while. She is only gonna get her self stuck in WICKED forever. Plus, IMO she is really starting to falter in the role

That's an old and hopefully completely wrong rumor. We've heard Eden/Kate, Sho/Megan, Julia/Kendra, and I highly doubt if any of them will happen.

Eden clearly stated that she's ready for what the world has in store for her next. She also stated in an interview that doing the Los Angeles company was a good way to end her journey with the show.

I think Lisa Brescia and Kate Fahrner might originate the Original Second National Tour cast... or maybe they'll do Broadway. I think it's likely because both will have had so little time doing their respective roles. (Lisa having had a little over two months, Kate having had seven weeks). What do you guys think? And maybe have Brad Bass as Fiyero...? That'd be interesting.

I would actually LOVE to see that!

Lisa maybe, but I'm not too sure about Kate. It's a possibility, but I don't know how likely. The only reason she had the lead was because she was a filler until Annaleigh could come to Chicago. But maybe!

That's true, but maybe during those few weeks the producers saw something they liked. It seems like they trusted Kate enough to do it for several weeks--maybe a test run?

Hmm good point, I didn't really think of it that way. I think she'd be a fantastic full time Glinda. She grew so much into the role in only 7 weeks, I'm sure she'd just get even better!

PJ Benjamin is going to take over for Lenny Wolpe as The Wizard on July 28.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119436.html

^
I adore PJ. He was so good when I saw him in San Diego. I'm sooo happy for him!

And about Kate...I'd love for her to take over full-time somewhere!

I don't know, there seemed something a little lackluster about Kate. She has a good voice, but I'm not the biggest fan of her acting.

Myra Lucretia Taylor is already up on the tour site.

I totally agree with you on that one.

Ok, so i heard that Julie would be taking over after Kerry and Brandi is comming back and will be standby. Just a rumor but possible.

I'm almost positive it's just a rumor about Brandi, but I wouldn't be surprised if Julie did take over (even though I really hope it's Lisa).

^Yeah I'm pretty confident it will be Julie. Someone asked in another thread (I think in the Broadway forum) 'Why would Julie sign on again if she wasn't happy about not being offered the lead in LA? Therefore, she was probably promised the lead after Kerry." Not exact words, but something along the lines of that...

And Brandi as standby? I think that's probably just a rumor...

Julie FTW!

It's called a paycheck. Even though Julie was unhappy with the snub in LA, she still needs to pay the rent. While I'm not doubting that she'll take over after Kerry, she could have also just agreed to her current position because she had spent a good 6 months or so without that paycheck.

Here are all my predictions... the last ones are probably not going to happen till late 2009 and early 2010. Let's see how many of these come to light!

Julie Reiber will become the next Broadway Elphaba.

Teal Wicks and Erin Mackey will close Wicked Los Angeles together.

Dee Roscioli and Annaleigh Ashford will close Wicked Chicago together.

Teal Wicks and Emily Rozek will open Wicked San Francisco together... along with D.J. Gregory or Adam Lambert as their "handsome swain," Fiyeo.

Lisa Brescia will reprise her role as Elphaba in the near future... possibly starting in November in the First National Tour.

Marcie Dodd is a likely candidate to originate the role of Elphaba in the Second National Tour unless she goes to San Francisco, to serve as Teal's standby (and eventual) successor.

Laura Woyatsz will become principal Glinda somewhere; either in one of the Tours or on Broadway.

Kate Fahrner will secure a (longer) run as Glinda in one of the American productions.

Jemma Stevenson will become the next Melbourne Elphaba.

Caissie Levy will originate the role of Elphaba in Toronto... I hope two years will reverse the damages done to her vocal cords so that she can stay with the role for quite some time. :]

^ I highly doubt that Emily will be opening the SF cast, but you never know.

I really hope Julie doesn't become the next Broadway Elphie. Carmen Cusack is better suited for the job.

I agree with those predictions, pretty much. The producers obviously like Laura & Emily if they keep on promoting them.

I only realised something tonight that makes me think that Julie mightn't take over Elphie: the Papermill production of Godspell, which Julie was in, is transferring to Broadway later in the year. I think there's a very strong chance that Julie might recreate her role in that production.

I'm also not necessarily convinced that Jemma would take over for Amanda - I actually have a suspicion that it will either be Patrice (who is an absolutely astonishing vocalist - she covered Killer Queen, Scaramouche and Oz in the WWRY tour, and played Nala in The Lion King), or Pippa Grandison; who was a really close contender for the role. John Frost really isn't conducive to the "promotion" system in his productions. He almost always brings somebody new in.

If it were a choice between Godspell and Elphaba in Wicked, I think Julie would probably take Elphaba.

Although, they're both Schwartz musicals, so she could do Godspell and come back and play Elphaba.

It's all up to Julie. She can make the decision that she thinks will be best for her carrer.

Diana Degarmo has been confirmed to star in "Godspell." She is probably going to play Sonia in because both her and Julie played the title role in the national tour of "Brooklyn." So, maybe Julie will get to play Elphaba full time now.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119688.html

Is it tru that Emily Rozek is supposed to be coming back? That's what my friend told me but she can't confirm it.

Yes it's been confirmed here: http://www.witchesofoz.com/wicked_boards/i...showtopic=30503

Thanks for the link. I'm so happy she's going to be back on stage.

So this definitely qualifies as just a rumor, but interesting nevertheless....

My friend's mom went to call the Pantages the other day to ask about group rates, etc. The ticket salesman she was talking to said something along the lines of "well if you're buying tickets for the end of the year, get them now because someone is coming back to Wicked LA towards the end of the year (i think they said in October) and tickets will definitely be selling out." Anyway, the mom didn't get anymore information on who it was....so we tried calling back later and the person we talked to had no idea what we were talking about (or at least pretended they didn't, we had a whole conspiracy theory, lol).

Anyway, maybe the mom misheard or maybe the ticket guy was wrong, but we found the information very interesting. Has anyone heard anything that relates to this?

^Omigod that makes me so excited--I don't even know who it is, or what part and it STILL excites me.

If this rumor is legit, it's definitely not Eden or Megan... although I'd love to see Eden again.

It's not Eden because she has said on numerous occasions that opening LA was "the best way to end [her] journey with Wicked."

And it's not Megan as she will be doing 9 to 5.

^I feel the same way. I actually posted about Eden/Megan idea in the LA thread, and basically wrote what you just did.

Maybe they weren't refering to someone who previously played Elphaba or Glinda. Maybe they were referting to Carol Kane.