Brittney Johnson made history February 14 when she took over the role of Glinda in the international hit musical Wicked at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre.
Formerly the Glinda standby, Johnson鈥攚ho has also appeared on Broadway in Les Mis茅rables, Motown, Sunset Boulevard, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Kristin Chenoweth: For the Girls鈥�is the first Black actor to assume the role of Glinda full-time. Watch Johnson make her entrance, greeted by thunderous applause, in the video above.
The Broadway company also welcomed Sharon Sachs February 14. Sachs, who recently played Madame Morrible in the national tour of Wicked, stepped into the same role at the Gershwin. The cast also features Lindsay Pearce as Elphaba, Michael McCormick as The Wizard, Sam Gravitte as Fiyero, Mili Diaz as Nessarose, Jordan Barrow as Boq, and Michael X. Martin as Doctor Dillamond.
Check out photos from the historic evening below:
Brittney Johnson and Lindsay Pearce
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson and Lindsay Pearce
Cast of Wicked
Cast of Wicked
Since opening October 30, 2003, Wicked has been performed in over 100 cities in 16 countries. In October 2019, the international hit musical surpassed Les Mis茅rables to become the fifth longest-running production in Broadway history.
Wicked, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.
The Joe Mantello-helmed production features musical staging by Wayne Cilento, scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Tony Meola, projections by Elaine J. McCarthy, wig and hair design by Tom Watson, music supervision and arrangements by Stephen Oremus, orchestrations by William David Brohn, and dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott. Casting is by the Telsey Office.
The musical, which reopened on Broadway September 14, 2021, following the pandemic shutdown, is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Stage Productions, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone.
