Zizi Strallen and Emma Kingston have been changed for good by 'Wicked'

As Wicked celebrates 20 years in the West End, we caught up with the show’s current Elphaba and Glinda to discover what continues to make it sing.

Summary

• Zizi Strallen and Emma Kingston star as Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked
• The musical is celebrating 20 years in London
• The musical tells the story of the two witches of Oz
• Stephen Schwartz provides the music

Global hit musical Wicked has plenty of reasons to rejoicify. Since premiering on Broadway in 2003, and heading to the West End just three years later, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s untold story of the Witches of Oz (based on the novel by Gregory Maguire) has bewitched audiences worldwide, even spawning two box-office-breaking films. However only a relatively small, exclusive group of women can claim to have played the principal roles of Elphaba and Glinda in the West End, among them current cast members Emma Kingston and Zizi Strallen.

“I never thought that I would be the one doing the 20th anniversary of this megahit show, 20 years after I first saw it, joining a dynasty of incredible women,” says Kingston, who plays Elphaba. As teenagers, both she and Strallen were lucky enough to see the original West End cast, with Idina Menzel and Helen Dallimore playing the foes-turned-best-friends. Kingston even remembers which row she was sitting in (F, in the stalls) and bursting into tears when she heard “Defying Gravity” for the first time.

“I was healthily obsessed with Idina, but I was unhealthily obsessed with Kristin Chenoweth [who originated Glinda on Broadway],” admits Kingston with a laugh.

As a coloratura soprano, Kingston seemed destined to follow in Chenoweth’s footsteps — but “as a person” she recognises she’s more suited to Elphaba. “I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum, and I’ve never particularly let the noise of peer pressure get to me. I’m very strong-minded like Elphaba in that sense,” she says. “I’m such a stickler for justice as well — I love a heated debate!”

Kingston can also identify with Elphaba’s feelings of being an outsider, drawing on her experience as the only Jewish girl at her drama school. “There were a lot of people who'd never met a Jewish person before. So suddenly, I was different.”

In contrast with her dark locks, Strallen says that her connection to the Good Witch was obvious. “Anyone who knows me is like, ‘Oh well, you are Glinda,’” she explains. “I’m just silly, and I think there’s a part of Glinda that really wants to do the right thing, but it doesn’t always come out the right way, and she thinks that she needs to be this [particular] kind of person.”

She recognises that this pressure stems in part from being a part of the Strallen family business. She has three sisters also in the performance world, while her parents were both dancers and her aunt is none other than West End legend Bonnie Langford, who is currently performing in Paddington The Musical. Indeed, Strallen even remembers looking longingly at the Apollo Victoria Theatre when she was a teenager, as she waited at the Billy Elliot stage door for her mum (who was chaperoning) and her little sister, who was in the cast.

And Strallen’s not the only one in her family attached to Wicked: sister Summer plays a Munchkin in the film For Good, while her mum Cherida stars as the librarian singing with Jonathan Bailey (“who she calls her boyfriend!”) in “Dancing Through Life”. “It used to be CATS was our family thing, now it seems to be Wicked,” quips Strallen.

Strallen has an impressive list of theatre credits of her own, and can see how leading Mary Poppins and starring as Fran in Strictly Ballroom and Penny in Hairspray have set her up for success as Glinda. “Penny was my first big comedy role, and the stamina of doing Mary Poppins has helped me with the stamina of Glinda,” she reflects. Strallen is glad she’s come to Wicked at this point in her career because “it’s really not an easy show to do. It’s very enjoyable, but I would say you have to have experienced doing eight shows a week as a lead before taking on these roles. There is a lot of pressure on your shoulders.”

Kingston agrees: “It’s not just about leading a show in terms of talent, it’s about leading a company as well.” Her journey down the yellow brick road began a decade ago, when she first auditioned only two years out of drama school. “I got right down to the wire, but I was very young,” she admits. New opportunities emerged, including Fiddler on the Roof and starring as Eva Peron in the Evita international tour, an experience that showed she could handle the demands of playing Elphaba. She auditioned for Wicked again in 2019, but “it didn’t go my way” and she recognised the need to step back. Now, Kingston believes the wait has made her a “better Elphaba”.

She’s also thrilled to be sharing the stage with Strallen. The pair have known each other for 10 years, and when Kingston heard whispers that Strallen had been cast as Glinda, she sent a pink heart and bubbles emojis to her now co-star via direct message on Instagram. “She sent me back a wink emoji and a smiley face, and I was like, ‘This couldn’t be more perfect.’ [...] I’m better because I play opposite her.”

Strallen echoes Kingston’s words, revealing that the chemistry was instant between them. “We’ve really bonded, and it was very natural.” She says that one of her favourite points in the show, which makes her feel completely immersed, is when she shares the stage with Kingston during “Defying Gravity”.

Strallen thinks the sisterhood between their characters is what makes audiences fall in love with the show night after night. “They really find each other. Everybody sees Glinda as this posh, rich girl, blonde, a bit silly, but she's got so much depth to her, and Elphaba sees that, and no one else does. It's such a lovely feeling when you have that in your life, and somebody else sees you for who you really are. I think people feel that when they see Wicked.”

“Female friendships are complicated,” continues Kingston. “Elphaba and Glinda deal with a changing political climate and how they both feel about it, and they deal with prejudice and boy drama. The people you argue with are the people who you are closest to.”

As for what makes Wicked’s appeal so enduring over the past 20 years, Kingston says we only need to reflect on the current state of politics to see the show’s continued relevance. “You just have to look at when Nessa says ‘I'm an unelected official’, and you think, ‘well, we currently have a prime minister that we didn't vote for,’” she says. “One of my favourite lines in the show is when the Wizard says, ‘The truth is not a thing of fact or reason. The truth is just what everyone agrees on.’ And you think, ‘well, that's an interesting theme with social media, fake news, and populist culture.’”

Kingston believes the influence of Wicked is even more widespread. Reflecting on how women have been presented in musicals over time, citing composer-lyricists such as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Jerry Herman, she thinks that “Wicked inspired this birth of belting women. Stephen Schwartz changed the way that women sang in musicals.”

Kingston’s passion for the show is clear to anyone in her company — “I’m a fan first!” — and she’s confident that “the future’s bright” as Wicked celebrates its landmark anniversary. She continues: “As long as the world is the world and these topics are still so relatable, the show’s never going to run out of audience.”

“I can’t see Wicked going anywhere,” agrees Strallen. “It really hits people in their souls. It’s not just in the musical theatre world anymore — it’s out in the world! You can’t really get away from Wicked, so it’s a good thing we love doing this,” she says, laughing. Thank Goodness, indeed.

Book Wicked tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

This article first appeared in the September 2026 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Emma Kingston and Zizi Strallen at the Clermont London Victoria. (Photos by Matt Crockett). Inset: in Wicked. (Photo by Matt Crockett). Styled by Brittany Taylor, hair and make up by Jade Ewen, clothes by Millia London and Alice + Olivia.