Christine Dwyer, Jenni Barber, Justin Guarini & More to Join Cast of WICKED in February

WICKED will welcome new cast members to the Broadway blockbuster beginning Tuesday, February 25. CHRISTINE DWYER will assume the role of Elphaba, after recently performing the role on National Tour, and JENNI BARBER (The Nance, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) will assume the role of Glinda.

JUSTIN GUARINI, most recently seen on Broadway in Romeo and Juliet and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, steps into the role of Fiyero, and two-time Tony Award Nominee MARY TESTA will assume the role of Madame Morrible. PJ BENJAMIN, who has performed the role of The Wizard both on Broadway and on National Tour, will return to the Broadway company.

They join a cast which currently includes Catherine Charlebois as Nessarose, K. Todd Freeman as Dr. Dillamond and Michael Wartella as Boq. Current cast members Lindsay Mendez, Alli Mauzey, Kyle Dean Massey, Carol Kane and Tom McGowan will play their final performances on Saturday, February 22.

CHRISTINE DWYER most recently played Elphaba on National Tour. Other tours and NYC/regional productions include Rent (Maureen), Tommy, New Hopeville Comics, Tinyard Hill, and Rock N Roll Debauchery. Christine's voice can also be heard on the Lyons & Pakchar debut album, #LOVE.

JENNI BARBER was last seen on Broadway as Grace Farrell in Annie. Her other Broadway credits include The Nance (Joan), The Performers (Sundown LeMay), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Olive Ostrovsky). Her New York and international credits include As You Like It and The Tempest (The Bridge Project, directed by Sam Mendes), From Up Here (MTC), and The Wii Plays (Ars Nova). She has been seen on television in Elementary, Smash, Law & Order: SVU, and The Electric Company (Lisa Heffenbacher). Audiobooks: Then Came You, The Dork Diaries Series. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

JUSTIN GUARINI's Broadway credits include Romeo and Juliet, American Idiot (Will), and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Carlos, original cast). Regional credits include Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (Drake, world premiere), Rent (Roger), Chicago (Billy), Joseph...Dreamcoat (Joseph), It's a Wonderful Life(Jake), Once on This Island (Daniel). Solo albums: Justin Guarini (RCA Records), Stranger Things Have Happened. TV (partial): American Idol, Season 1.www.justinguarini.com

MARY TESTA has appeared on Broadway in Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), Chicago, 42nd Street (Tony nomination), Marie Christine, On the Town (Tony nomination), ...Forum, The Rink, Marilyn, Barnum. Off-Broadway: Disaster!, Regrets Only, See What I Wanna See (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations), First Lady Suite (Drama Desk nomination), String of Pearls (Drama Desk nomination), The Vagina Monologues, From Above (Obie), others. Film: Four Single Fathers, Stay,Sleepers, others. Television: The Electric Company, Life on Mars, Cashmere Mafia, Sex and the City, Whoopi, others.

Prior to his five year run as The Wizard on Broadway and across the country, PJ BENJAMIN appeared as "Mr. Cellophane" in Chicago. Most recently he played "Joe Keller" in All My Sons at Delaware Theater Company. Other Broadway: Torch Song Trilogy, Sophisticated Ladies, Pippin, Charlie and Algernon, Sarava, The Pajama Game, The Wind In The Willows and Damn Yankees. TV/Film credits include Law and Order: SVU and Ice Age (voice of Sergeant DoDo Bird). With wife, actress Louisa Flaningam, his latest production is restoring The Captain Timothy Hill House, the oldest house on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, now a museum and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

WICKED has been declared "A Cultural Phenomenon" by Variety and "The Best Musical of the Decade" by Entertainment Weekly. Wicked currently has nine productions around the world, in New York, London, Japan (Tokyo), Australian/Asian Tour (Manila), South Korea (Seoul), Latin America (Mexico City), a U.K. Tour (Dublin), and two concurrent North American National Tours. Since its New York premiere a decade ago, Wicked has grossed over $3.2 billion worldwide and has been seen by over 39 million across the globe. Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 13 countries around the world (U.S., Canada, England, 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.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. Wicked is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

Winner of over 50 major awards including the Grammy Award and three Tony Awards, Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

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.

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