Wicked gets a new witch

Wicked has a new Wicked Witch of the East, Natalie Anderson (best known for her appearances on ITV in The Royal) will take over the role in May.

Natalie will play Nessarose, Elphaba’s a spoilt, wheelchair-bound, younger sister. Nessarose grows up to be the witch who’s flattened under Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz.

Natalie’s first lead role was in Alice In Wonderland at Bradford Playhouse, aged 12. She was working on a film called Freight when she was offered the Wicked role.

“My agent rang saying I’d got an audition in London,” she said. “I went down and they asked me back next day. It happened so fast and because I was busy filming I had hardly any time to prepare. I was learning my lines on the train! I hadn’t even seen the show when I auditioned, but I’ve seen it since. It’s amazing.”

Best known as Nurse Stella Davenport in The Royal,Natalie left the show last year.She launched her singing career after quite recently with the release of her debut album, Return to Me.