Dodd Soars as 'Elphaba' for Second North American Tour of WICKED, Full Casting Announced

The Producers of the worldwide smash WICKED announced casting for the 2nd North American Tour today.

The role of Elphaba will be played by Marcie Dodd and the role of Glinda will be played by Heléne Yorke. Playing the role of Madame Morrible will be Marilyn Caskey and The Wizard will be played by Tom McGowan.

Marcie Dodd comes directly from the Broadway company of WICKED, where she appeared as Elphaba. She has also performed on the North American tour and the Los Angeles companies of WICKED, where she was the standby for Elphaba. Other tours include Hairspray, We Will Rock You, and Grease as well as multiple projects and recordings with Disney Entertainment and Universal Studios.

Heléne Yorke was recently in Grease on Broadway. Her Off-Broadway credits include What's That Smell... at Atlantic Theatre Company, and Walmartopia at The Minetta Lane. She has toured the country in Disney's High School Musical and has performed in numerous productions at PCLO and Music Theatre of Wichita. Heléne holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan.

Marilyn Caskey's many Broadway credits include Gypsy with Patti LuPone, Phantom of the Opera, The American Clock, and The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall. She was also seen in the national tour of Man of La Mancha and the Canadian production of Sunset Boulevard. Marilyn has performed across the country including productions at DC's Arena, Goodspeed, Pittsburgh CLO, Coconut Grove, and The Papermill Playhouse.

Tom McGowan received Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his performance in La Bete and has also been seen on Broadway in Chicago and Ivanov. He won an Obie Award for his work in The Food Chain; other Off-Broadway credits include A Few Stout Individuals, The Winter's Tale and Coriolanus. Tom's numerous television roles include Kenny, the station manager, on "Frasier" and Bernie on "Everybody Loves Raymond," among others.

The company includes David de Vries (Doctor Dillamond), Colin Donnell (Fiyero), Ted Ely (Boq), Kristine Reese (Nessarose), and Carrie Manolakos (Standby for Elphaba). Rounding out the cast are Meredith Akins, Alicia L. Albright, Kerry Blanchard, Anne Brummel, Jeremy Duvall, Peter C. Ermides, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Jenn Furman, Jacqueline Graziano, Charles Hagerty, Todd Hanebrink, Gregory Haney, Zach Hanna, Lauren Linville, Michelle London, Shylo M. Martinez, Nathan Peck, Casey Quinn, Don Richard, Libby Servais, Daniel Torres, Nicky Venditti, Erin Wilson, and Kevin Samual Yee.

The 2nd North American Tour will launch at the Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers, FL on March 7 and run through March 29, 2009.

Following the premiere in Fort Myers, the tour will fly into:

Birmingham BJCC Concert Hall April 3-19, 2009
Jacksonville Times Union Center April 23-May 10, 2009
Norfolk Chrysler Hall May 13-31, 2009
Indianapolis Murat Centre June 3-21, 2009
Memphis Orpheum Theatre June 24-July 12, 2009
Tulsa Chapman Music Hall July 15-August 9, 2009
Austin Bass Hall August 12-30, 2009
Nasvhille TPAC September 2-20, 2009
Des Moines Civic Center September 23-Oct 18, 2009
Wichita Century II Concert Hall October 21-Nov 8, 2009
Additional cities will be announced in the future.

The 1st North American tour of WICKED, which has been seen by more than 4 million people and broken the house record in every single city in which it has played, will continue to fly into cities across North America. Upcoming tour stops include:

Appleton Fox Cities Performing Arts Center February 4-March 1, 2009
Portland Keller Auditorium March 4-April 5, 2009
Salt Lake City Capitol Theatre April 8-May 3, 2009
Omaha Orpheum Theatre May 6-31, 2009
San Antonio Majestic Theatre June 3-28, 2009
Tempe Gammage Auditorium July 1-26, 2009
San Diego Civic Theatre July 29-August 23, 2009
Seattle Paramount August 26-September 27, 2009
Additional cities will be announced in the future.

There are currently eight productions of WICKED. Called "one of the most successful shows in Broadway history" by The New York Times and "a phenomenon that keeps growing" by the Los Angeles Times, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. The Broadway production of WICKED began performances in New York on October 8, 2003 at The Gershwin Theatre. The Chicago engagement took the stage on Friday, June 24, 2005 at The Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre and ended its triumphant run Sunday, January 25, 2009 after 1,500 performances. The Los Angeles extended engagement at the Pantages Theatre opened on February 21, 2007 and concluded its record-breaking run on Sunday, January 11, 2009. An open-ended San Francisco engagement began performances January 27 at the Orpheum Theatre.

The London production of WICKED opened on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. A Japanese-language production of the musical opened in Tokyo on June 17, 2007 and a German-language production opened in Stuttgart on November 15, 2007. An Australian production of WICKED opened in Melbourne on July 12, 2008 and a Dutch-language production of WICKED will open in 2010.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, WICKED has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and 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 20 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 Witch.

For more information about WICKED, log on to www.wickedthemusical.com.