Actress Lindsay Pearce first gained international recognition when she achieved second place on the television reality series The Glee Project. Among her competitive songs on the program was the Stephen Schwartz number “Defying Gravity” from Gravity. Pearce then went on play a recurring guest role on the popular musical TV series Glee, the vocally talented “Harmony” who finds herself at odds with series diva Rachel. Wicked, however, seemed an inevitable destination for Pearce who will now make her Broadway debut in the long-running musical, succeeding Hannah Corneau in the role of Elphaba (a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the West). She will join the cast at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre on February 25, 2020.
Lindsay Pearce is no stranger to the musical stage, having appeared in productions of Spring Awakening, Bare, The Last Five Years, and the holiday pantomime Snow White Christmas. Television and film credits include Drop Dead Diva, Grey’s Anatomy, The Wedding Ringer, and Recovery Road.
Re-joining the production on the same day Pearce enters the show will be Sam Gravitte, taking over the role of Fiyero from Jake Boyd. Gravitte made his Broadway debut in the show last year, joining the ensemble for two months. Pearce and Gravitte join the current cast which includes Ginna Clair Mason as Glinda, Alexandra Billings as Madame Morrible, Michael McCormick as The Wizard, Riley Costello as Boq, Michael X. Martin as Doctor Dillamond, and Shoba Narayan as Nessarose.
Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, Wicked tells the story of the two Witches of Oz and their complicated, but enduring friendship as each rises to power. The musical has a score by Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell) and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello, with choreography by Wayne Cilento. The original cast featured Idina Menzel in her Tony-winning turn as the Elphaba, with Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, Joel Grey as The Wizard, Carole Shelly as Madame Morrible, and Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. His latest book, Sitcommentary: The Television Comedies That Changed America, released on October 15. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.