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Brittney Johnson will become the first Black actress to portray Glinda in Broadway’s “Wicked.” Photo by Emilio Madrid/Polk and Co.
Dec. 7 (UPI) — Brittney Johnson will be taking over the role of Glinda in Broadway’s Wicked starting on Feb. 14 at the Gershwin Theatre.
Johnson is the current Glinda standby and will become the first Black actress to take on the role.
The actress will be joined onstage by Lindsay Pearce as Elphaba, Alexandra Billings as Madame Morrible, Michael McCormick as The Wizard, Sam Gravitte as Fiyero, Jordan Barrow as Boq, Mili Diaz as Nessarose and Michael X. Martin as Doctor Dillamond.
Johnson has previously starred in Broadway productions of Les Misérables, Motown, Sunset Boulevard, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Kristin Chenoweth: For the Girls.
Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz that follows Glinda and Elphaba before the events of the film.
Universal is developing a film version of the stage play with Ariana Grande set to portray Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. Jon M. Chu (In the Heights) is serving as director.