Rachel Tucker joins the company of WICKED as Elphaba

RACHEL TUCKER JOINS THE COMPANY OF THE BROADWAY PHENOMENON WICKED AS ELPHABA

BEGINNING PERFORMANCES SEPTEMBER 15th

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JONAH PLATT

ALSO JOINS THE COMPANY AS FIYERO

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August 18, 2015, New York, NY – Beginning Tuesday, September 15, West End alumna RACHEL TUCKER will join the Broadway company of WICKED in the role of Elphaba. After nearly three years and over 1,000 performances, Rachel holds the record for most consecutive performances as Elphaba in London’s West End production. She made her Broadway debut last season as Meg Dawson in Sting’s The Last Ship.

Rachel will be joined by JONAH PLATT, who will be making his Broadway debut in the role of Fiyero. Mr. Platt will also begin performances on September 15.

They join a cast which currently includes Kara Lindsay as Glinda, Michele Lee as Madame Morrible, Fred Applegate as The Wizard, Robin De Jesús as Boq, Arielle Jacobs as Nessarose, and Timothy Britten Parker as Dr. Dillamond. The roles of Elphaba and Fiyero are currently being played by Caroline Bowman and Matt Shingledecker.

ABOUT THE CAST

RACHEL TUCKER has just finished playing Poopay in Communicating Doors at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London. Prior to that production she made her Broadway debut as Meg Dawson in Sting’s musical, The Last Ship.

Rachel holds the record for playing Elphaba for the most consecutive performances in London's West End production of Wicked. She also received the What'sOnStage Award for Best Takeover in a Role for her performance. Rachel made her West End debut as Meat in Ben Elton and Queen’s musical We Will Rock You. Prior to that, Rachel took part in the BBC's “I'd Do Anything,” where she reached the semi-final stages for the role of Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Oliver!. This led to a developmental workshop of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, where she played the role of Meg Giry at the Sydmonton Festival.

Other UK credits include Mary in Tonight's The Night (Phil McIntyre), Sally Simpson in The Who's Tommy (Bill Kenwright), Estelle in The Full Monty and Ida in Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse). Rachel was part of the Belfast Lyric Theatre's repertory company playing roles such as Dorothy in the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, Kelly in Merry Christmas Betty Ford by Connor Mitchell (TMA Award nomination for both), and Grace Power in the Northern Irish political farce To Be Sure.

Rachel can be heard on the original cast album of The Last Ship and recently released her debut solo album, The Reason, on Bighand Recordings. She received her training at the Royal Academy of Music.

JONAH PLATT’s credits include Hair at the Hollywood Bowl, Floyd Collins at La Mirada, the LA revival of Bare, Machinima’s Assassins’ Creed: The Musical, Yahoo’s ”Sketchy,” and For The Record: Dear John Hughes at DBA. As a writer, Jonah has worked on Cartoon Network’s “Annoying Orange,” NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” and Fox’s “Family Guy.” Jonah is currently writing a musical adaptation of Lois Lowry’s best-seller, The Giver, with Andrew Resnick.

Jonah has performed at Carnegie Hall; Philadelphia’s Trocadero, Palestra, and Wells Fargo Center; and LA’s Catalina Jazz Club, Roxy, Whisky A-Go-Go, and Troubadour. He has sung with Fall Out Boy, Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, and Megan Mullally. He has also created arrangements for the acclaimed University of Pennsylvania a cappella group, Off the Beat, and The Album Project: Jagged Little Pill. He’s produced several a cappella albums, winning multiple CARA awards for each. Jonah is also the founder/director of One Night Stand: An Improvised Musical.

ABOUT WICKED

The surprising tale of an unlikely friendship between two women in the Land of Oz, WICKED tells the untold story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, long before Dorothy drops in. Elphaba, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. Glinda is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. The remarkable odyssey of how these unexpected friends changed each other’s lives for good has made WICKED one of the world’s most popular musicals.

WICKED has been declared “A Cultural Phenomenon” by Variety and “The Best Musical of the Decade” by Entertainment Weekly. WICKED has been performed in over 100 cities in 13 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, The Philippines, and Mexico) and has thus far been translated into five languages: Japanese, German, Dutch, Spanish, and Korean.

WICKED is the winner of over 100 international awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com/wicked. For more information, visit www.wickedthemusical.com. WICKED is performed at the Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue on the following schedule (September 15 – October 25): Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm.

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