It’s been 22 years since Wicked opened on Broadway and has since defied gravity as the fourth longest-running show on Broadway.
In its first decade at the Gershwin Theatre,Wicked was Broadway’s highest grossing show for an unprecedented nine consecutive years. The musical has earned more than $6 billion and has been seen by over 70 million people worldwide. Now, with both of the Wicked films out and available for streaming, the resolution of what happens to these witches once they meet the Wizard is taking center stage across the globe.
In honor of its anniversary, here’s a look at what the musical’s original stars have been up to since they took their opening-night bows on October 30, 2003.
Idina Menzel (Elphaba)
If RENT sealed Idina Menzel’s career on Broadway, Wicked soared it to star power. After flying off from Shiz with a Tony Award in tow, Menzel reprised her role as Maureen in the film adaptation of Rent, starred as Elphaba when Wicked debuted in the West End, played Florence in an anniversary concert of the musical Chess in London, and later was cast as Lea Michele’s mother on Glee (Michele is now coincidentally playing Florence in Chess on Broadway).
Her silver-screen breakout role was playing Nancy Tremaine, Patrick Dempsey’s fiancée, in Enchanted and again in the sequel. Menzel also played Adam Sandler’s wife in Uncut Gems and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. She played the Stepmother in a Cinderella adaptation opposite Camila Cabello.
She catapulted to international treasure and sanctioned a Disney princess as the voice of Elsa in Frozen. Her performance of the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” on the Academy Awards, including the “Adele Dazeem” introduction faux pas by John Travolta, has forever been stamped into pop-culture history.
Other theatrical credits include a return to the stage in the original musical If/Then, an Off-Broadway production of Skintight, and a starring role as Jesse in Redwood on Broadway.
Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda)
Since Wicked, Kristin Chenoweth has become one the reigning queens of Broadway, with six more shows to her name — including The Queen of Versailles, which played at the St. James Theatre in 2025. She made a name for herself in Hollywood with a slew of projects, from ABC’s Pushing Daisies to April Rhodes on Glee and even a guest-starring role on an episode of Younger.
In the movies, she starred as Maleficent in the Descendants franchise opposite Dove Cameron. The pair later starred as mother Velma Von Tussle and daughter Amber in Hairspray Live! on NBC.
Chenoweth recorded seven solo albums since Wicked: As I Am, Coming Home, The Art of Elegance, A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas, Some Lessons Learned, HAPPINESS Is … Christmas!, and For the Girls.
Perhaps her biggest accolade is celebrating a decade of Kristin Chenoweth’s Broadway Bootcamp. It’s an annual program in her hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, for aspiring young performers to hone in on their craft.
Joel Grey (The Wizard)
In the years since Wicked, Joel Grey worked on three more Broadway shows. He played Moonface Martin in a revival of Anything Goes (2011), directed a production of The Normal Heart (2011), in which he earned his fifth Tony Award nomination, and was in a short run of The Cherry Orchard (2016).
His autobiography, Master of Ceremonies: A Memoir, was published in 2016.
In 2019, Grey continued his career in the director’s chair with the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of his National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s Fiddler on the Roof.
Grey was celebrated by his peers with a special birthday episode on the streaming series Stars in the House in 2022. The following year, he was honored with a Special Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Tony Awards. Grey made a special cameo in the diner “Sunday” scene in Tick, Tick…Boom!
Norbert Leo Butz (Fiyero)
Norbert Leo Butz put eight additional shows under his belt following Wicked and became a household name of leading men on Broadway. He won a Tony Award in 2005 for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical as Freddy Benson in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He won a second award in the same category in 2011 for his portrayal as Carl Hanratty in Catch Me If You Can. Other credits include replacing Jeremy Piven in Speed-the-Plow, as Edward Bloom in Big Fish, and as Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
In addition to theater, Butz has a slew of Hollywood credits, from Madam Secretary, Fosse/Verdon, and Smash on TV to The English Teacher, Better Nate Than Never, and A Complete Unknown on film.
Butz married his former Wicked costar Michelle Federer in 2007 and they have a daughter. He most recently returned to the Gershwin to see the musical for the first time in over 20 years.
Michelle Federer (Nessarose)
Wicked was Michelle Federer’s Broadway debut. After she left the production, she continued her career on stage as an understudy in Three Days of Rain (2006) and The Cottage (2023).
On TV, Federer had a recurring role as Monica Swift, Michael Swift’s wife, on SMASH. On screen, she costarred with her husband, Norbert Leo Butz, in Better Nate Than Never.
She returned to Wicked as Nessarose in 2009 for a limited engagement.
Christopher Fitzgerald (Boq)
Fresh off his Broadway debut in Amour, Christopher Fitzgerald made a name for himself in Wicked, his breakout role. His comedic chops fueled his success on Broadway in roles from Igor in Young Frankenstein (2007) to Og in Finian’s Rainbow (2009), both of which earned Tony Award nominations for best supporting actor in a musical. He was nominated a third time for originating Ogie in Waitress and rejoined the cast when it was recorded for a theatrical release. He returned again in 2021 for a revival of Company, and played Patsy in Spamalot (2023), coincidentally opposite Ethan Slater, who plays Boq in the screen adaptation of Wicked.
He is married to Broadway actor and two-time Tony-nominated director Jessica Stone.
Carole Shelley (Madame Morrible)
Carole Shelley, already an accomplished Broadway actress when she was cast in Wicked, stayed in the production for a year and half. She went on to star in Billy Elliot: The Musical (2008) and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (2014). Shelley, an English actress, made her Broadway debut in the original production of The Odd Couple in 1965. She won a Tony Award in 1979 for The Elephant Man.
Her final credit is listed as the Mystery Chaperone in John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018). Shelley passed away in her home due to complications from cancer, according to The New York Times in August 2018. She was 79 years old.
William Youmans (Dr. Dillamond)
William Youmans is one of the great stage performers who consistently books the character roles. After Wicked, Youmans was cast in eight additional Broadway shows: from the short-lived The Pirate Queen (2007) to The Farnsworth Invention (2007), Billy Elliot: The Musical (2008), Finian’s Rainbow (2009), Hands on a Hardbody (2013), Bright Star (2016), Carousel (2018), and To Kill a Mockingbird (2018).
He returned to his role as Dr. Dillamond on Broadway in 2023 and continues to play the character today.
On TV, he has guest-starred on Madam Secretary and Law & Order.
Eden Espinosa and Laura Bell Bundy (standbys for Elphaba and Glinda)
We’d be remiss not to include the OG standbys in Wicked because, while their roles were to be in the wings waiting to go on, they turned into mega Broadway stars.
Eden Espinosa, who made her Broadway debut as the standby for Elphaba, went on to star in the title roles of two musicals. The first was Brooklyn (2004), and then a decade later in Lempicka (2024), earning a Tony nomination for the latter. In 2008, she was the final Maureen in RENT on Broadway, the role Menzel created.
Laura Bell Bundy had already starred as Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray when she was cast in Wicked. She continued with a leading role as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (2007), which was subsequently taped for MTV. She didn’t return to Broadway until more recently in the play The Cottage (2023). She spent those in-between years working in TV and movies, including spots on Veronica Mars, How I Met Your Mother, Anger Management, Scream Queens, and Fuller House. She’s also released several studio albums and is the founder of the Double Standards Organization and Womxn of Tomorrow. She later returned to the musical stage, playing Romy in Romy & Michele: The Musical Off-Broadway, which closed in November of 2025.
