When the Broadway Witches Watched 'Wicked'

The world’s biggest game of Elphaba roulette unfolded in New York on Monday night, as scores of current and former stars of Wicked on Broadway gathered for a special screening of Jon M. Chu’s upcoming big-screen adaptation of the beloved musical. Former Broadway Elphabas including Mary Kate Morrisey, Alyssa Fox, Jenny DiNoia, Talia Suskauer, Caroline Bowman, and Dee Roscioli, posed together for photos, standing largely head and shoulders over a group of blonde, petite former Glindas like Brittney Johnson, Amanda Jane Cooper, Alli Mauzey, Alexandra Socha, Carrie St. Louis, Ginna Claire Mason, McKenzie Kurtz, and Katie Rose Clarke. All the divas were giggling with glee to reunite with their witchy sisters, and welcome Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande—who play the musical’s respective leads in Chu’s film—into the fold.

“We went through something that you only understand when you have done the role,” said Johnson, who made history as the first Black woman to play Glinda on Broadway when she stepped into the role full time in 2022. “Every single one of these ladies played the part differently,” she added. “That empowered me to not feel that I somehow had to fit some mold. Everybody's different, and so I got to use that as my superpower too.”

All the witches agreed that playing either character eight times a week requires something akin to superhuman-like abilities. “ ‘The Wizard and I’ is so tough, because you're singing a 11 o'clock number within the first 20 minutes of the show. And you have two more 11 o'clock numbers to go,” Morrissey told me. “The show is like a train, and you have to hop on or you'll get run over. But a lot of times, I feel like the person who's playing Elphaba has to drive the train.”

For Socha, who currently stars opposite Morrisey as Glinda, the trickiest moment is kicking the show off. “I feel massive responsibility with the opening number of the show,” she said. “I feel like it starts the train before it gets handed over to Elphaba.”

Clark, who’s played Glinda multiple times since 2007 and recently finished playing Beth in the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, agreed with Socha, but noted a certain secret tradition that gives Glindas confidence before traveling by bubble.

“All the Glindas, they leave a note for the next Glinda,” said Clarke. “Hanging on the curtain in front of you when you're standing in this tiny little tight space that you have as Glinda. Like, a note of congratulations and love from the Glinda that you're replacing. It’s pretty special.”

“The Glinda Club,” chimed in Mauzey, a recent Tony-nominee for Kimberly Akimbo, who first played Glinda on Broadway in 2008. “I'm pretty sure I got one from you at some point, and vice versa,” Clark told her.