Original Wicked Casting Changes

[missthemountains]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 5:13am

In my anticipation of WICKED: FOR GOOD, I was looking at the Wikipedia cast changes for the OG production. I know there are definitely threads on here that are 20+ years old that talk about this, but why were Kirk McDonald, Robert Morse, and John Horton replaced? Were they all not right fits for the role? I feel like it's not common for three principals to be replaced before Broadway.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 7:35am

Not certain about the other two, but Robert Morse turned down the Broadway transfer because he didn't want to leave his family in L.A. to come back to NY.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 7:43am

I believe another component of the Robert Morse situation was that he didn’t approve of how Mantello would be quite hard on Idina sometimes. I heard Morse gave Mantellon “a piece of his mind” which may have led to Morse feeling less at home in the whole thing. 

Joel Grey was of course fine, but I think the plot twist from friendly old man to malevolent man would have been more shocking with Morse. Joel Grey already has a bit of sinister clown/scheming leprechaun energy to him. Morse was inherently more warm and unassuming. 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 8:02am

BorisTomashevsky said: "I believe another component of the Robert Morse situation was that he didn’t approve of how Mantello would be quite hard on Idina sometimes. I heard Morse gave Mantellon “a piece of his mind” which may have led to Morse feeling less at home in the whole thing."

Absolutely, I'm sure there were other factors than just his family being in LA that led him to not want to come to NY. But publicly at least, that's how they spun it. But could also see that being a convenient excuse for just not wanting to be a part of the production anymore.

[Crusty Bagel]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 11:27am

Wicked has a couple Friday matinees coming up in August

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 11:31am

I’m not sure why Kirk McDonald was released after the San Francisco tryout, but he did go on to play Boq for a time on the first national tour, which suggests no hard feelings. He’s since left acting and works as a news producer.

[witchoftheeast2]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 5:32pm

I really want a book, podcast or something about casting "what if's?" People who were in workshops for something, or almost got cast but did not. I feel like it would be fascinating 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 5:51pm

Sentimental Men is a great podcast for that. There’s a lot of discussions (particularly with early/OG Elphabas) that discuss that sort of thing (who, why, etc). 

[altonido]

Posted: 7/28/25 at 6:26pm

San Francisco curtain call, with all of the original tryout cast

https://www.facebook.com/61555350041572/videos/245939968546493

[Quinn Wilson]

Posted: 7/29/25 at 7:57am

witchoftheeast2 said: "I really want a book, podcast or something about casting "what if's?" People who were in workshops for something, or almost got cast but did not. I feel like it would be fascinating"

It certainly doesn’t count as a “what if” but one the very earliest recordings of Defying Gravity was performed by Liz Callaway all the way back in 2001. I don’t think she did any workshops, but in the 90s if this had come to fruition she would have been a shoo-in. 

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/29/25 at 8:19am

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kristin Chenoweth is the only actor in a principal role who was consistently involved in the development process from the first workshop on, yes?

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 7/29/25 at 8:20am

AC126748 said: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Kristin Chenoweth is the only actor in a principal role who was consistently involved in the development process from the first workshop on, yes?"

Yep she’s the only one who was there from day one to opening.