Where Is the Original Broadway Cast of ‘Wicked’ Now?

Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda

Already an established theater star, Chenoweth set the standard for her successors with her work as Glinda. She left the show after nine months to play Annabeth Schott in The West Wing, make her solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall and appear in the movie musical Asphalt Beach. Chenoweth also released her second studio album, As I Am, in 2005. 

The actress returned to Broadway several more times after Wicked for The Apple Tree in 2006, Promises, Promises in 2010 and On the Twentieth Century in 2015, for which she earned her third Tony nomination. She is currently leading a new musical, The Queen of Versailles, which opened on Broadway in November 2025.

Of her role as Glinda, Chenoweth joked to PEOPLE for the musical’s 15th anniversary, “Very few times in our career do we have a hand-in-glove moment, and Glinda was mine. I just thought when I read it, ‘This is my part! And if anybody else plays Glinda, I’ll kill them in their sleep!’ “

In 2021, Chenoweth got engaged to Josh Bryant, the guitarist of country band Backroad Anthem. The pair later wed on Sept. 2, 2023, in Dallas. 

“I have been a self-proclaimed bachelorette my whole life,” Chenoweth told PEOPLE after the nuptials. “I was never going to get married. I even got engaged before and couldn’t do it. Until I met Josh. Then I was like, ‘Why would I ever let this guy go?’ I’m so blessed.”

Idina Menzel as Elphaba

Menzel’s soaring performance as Elphaba cemented her in Broadway history with a Tony Award. Menzel stayed with the Broadway production until 2005, and after briefly stepping away from the iconic green witch, she returned to the role for the West End’s version of Wicked. 

“I had no idea what it would become but I knew it was something special,” Menzel said of playing Elphaba. “I needed this role to teach me something about life that I needed to learn.”

Aside from Wicked, the actress is best known for lending her voice to Elsa from the hit Disney film Frozen. Her solo song from the 2013 animated movie, “Let It Go,” peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Menzel voiced Elsa again in the Frozen sequel and is set to return for the third installment, coming in 2027.

The Daytime Emmy winner also reprised her Tony-nominated role in Rent for the 2005 film adaptation and played supporting roles in 2007’s Enchanted and the 2010s TV show Glee.

Menzel made her return to the Broadway stage in 2025 to lead the new musical Redwood, which she also co-conceived.

Menzel married actor Aaron Lohr, in September 2017. She has one son, Walker Diggs, with ex-husband Taye Diggs.

Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero

Norbert Leo Butz originated the role of Fiyero, a prince who attends school with Glinda and Elphaba. The actor departed from the musical the July after its Broadway opening, and he went on to have a successful career across film, TV and theater. 

Over the years, Butz added productions like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Enron, My Fair Lady and more to his Broadway credits. On TV, he was part of the leading cast in shows such as Bloodline and Mercy Street, and in 2024, he portrayed Patriots coach Bill Belichick in American Sports Story.

He is married to his Wicked costar Michelle Federer, and the pair welcomed a daughter in 2011, Georgia Teresa.

In February 2012, Butz joked to Broadway.com that he won over Federer with Fiyero’s tight white pants in the show, quipping that, “She was checking out those white pants when I was ‘Dancing Through Life.’ Now she’s dancing through wife!”

Joel Grey as The Wizard of Oz

Joel Grey assumed the mantle of the musical’s main antagonist, the Wizard of Oz. The Broadway legend appeared in two more productions after Wicked: the 2011 revival of Anything Goes and the 2016 adaptation of The Cherry Orchard. 

In January 2015, the actor opened up about his sexuality to PEOPLE, coming out as a gay man. He shares two children — including actress Jennifer Grey — with actress Jo Wilder, to whom he was married for 24 years.

The Academy Award winner released his memoir, Master of Ceremonies, in 2016, with the title referencing his iconic Cabaret role. He made a brief cameo alongside Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Bernadette Peters and more in the 2021 film Tick, Tick… Boom! starring Andrew Garfield.

Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible

Broadway veteran Carole Shelley set the standard for the villainous headmistress Madame Morrible. The Tony Award winner later reprised the role in the 2005 national tour and the 2006 Chicago production. 

“It knocked me out, I’ve gotta be honest,” she said of the role to the Theater Development Fund’s magazine in September 2007. “Morrible takes a heck of a lot of energy. There is a certain driving element to her character, because she’s manipulating a lot of characters and events. Her intense spontaneity takes a lot of energy.”

She went on to appear in two more Broadway productions, Billy Elliot in 2008 and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder in 2014. 

Shelley died of cancer at age 79 on Aug. 31, 2018, in New York City. Her final role was three months before her death as John Mulaney’s chaperone around Radio City Music Hall in his stand-up comedy special Kid Gorgeous.

Michelle Federer as Nessarose

Federer made her Broadway debut as Nessarose, Elphaba’s sister and the Wicked Witch of the East. Out of the original principal cast, Federer stayed on the production the longest, leaving in January 2006. She briefly returned to the role from 2009 to 2010.

“It wasn’t until the second time around that I truly connected with her sadness and mourning. There is an odd strength that comes from loss. A feeling that you’ve already been through the worst, so nothing else can really hurt you,” Federer told Playbill in July 2016. 

Outside of Wicked, Federer has appeared in small films and made guest appearances in TV shows like Elementary and Blue Bloods.

She married Wicked costar Butz in 2007, and together they share a daughter, Georgia Teresa.

Christopher Fitzgerald as Boq

Three-time Tony Award nominee Christopher Fitzgerald originated the role of the lovesick Munchkin Boq. After departing Wicked in January 2005, he continued his successful Broadway career with shows like Young Frankenstein, Chicago, Waitress, Company and more. 

“People are so crazy about that show. I’ve seen people with tattoos of Boq on their arm. Wicked probably will outlast us all,” Fitzgerald said in a 2009 interview with Talkin’ Broadway.

Fitzgerald has been married to director and former actress Jessica Stone since 2003, and they have two sons together.

William Youmans as Doctor Dillamond

William Youmans donned intricate prosthetics to become the talking goat professor Doctor Dillamond. He left the show in July 2005 but briefly returned between 2006 and 2007 for the Chicago production. Youmans officially stepped back into the role on Broadway in March 2023. 

“When I took my final bow in 2005, I came out with a sign that said, ‘I’ll be back.’ Because Wicked was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. My career was completely revolutionized,” Youmans told Playbill after his 2023 return. 

After his initial run of Wicked, he also originated the role of The Director in Richard Gustin’s Being Seen at a festival in 2015 and played Bascombe in the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel. In November 2019, he joined the play To Kill a Mockingbird’s cast as Dr. Reynolds/Mr. Roscoe.

He resides in N.Y.C. with his wife, artist Susanna Starr.