Just spoke to my source at the casting agency that casts the tour.
She wasn't ready to give me names just yet, but said they have a wide aray of options and are seeing alot more people new to the show than they ever really have for these principle roles, which leads me to believe that they are shooting for new cast members this time around instead of promoting/ recycling old ones.
What she DID say in regards to recycling is that we may see some of the Elphaba and Glinda understudies from the other productions involved in some format with the tour, but she said she thinks it will remain in the understudy capacity.
She also said the Toronto run is going to be having a two week extention through December 3rd. Megan and Shoshana won't be staying for the extention, and currently the plan is just to rotate the understudies for those two weeks (Jennifer Waldman [Nessarose] will play her last show December 3rd at the close of said extension.) Over the Christmas holidays, the tour is taking a brief hiatus before beginning again in early January in Providence. The new replacements will be rehearsed over that break in December and start when things resume in January.
In regards to Maria Eberline, she won't be staying with the tour much longer, so no chance of her stepping up. Her last show is most likely August 20th in Costa Mesa (she hints to it on her website's message board, and my source confirmed it is what she has also heard.) If she does stay past then (and the chances of that are slim,) she will most certainly be gone before the holidays.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Updated On: 6/21/06 at 12:26 AM