‘Wicked’ Tour Gets New Wizard in Walker Jones

Starting tonight, Walker Jones will join the cast of the second North American tour of “Wicked” as the Wizard.

Jones will make his debut when the musical opens at the Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte, N.C. tonight, where the production will play through March 31.

Jones has previously been seen in New York in “Scapin,” “Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Merchant of Venice” and “Henry VI.” Additionally, he has performed in a variety of other companies around the U.S. including ACT, Yale Rep, Portland Stage, Shakespeare Theatre of D.C. and NJ Shakespeare Theatre.

This company is one of two companies currently touring North America, and Jones will star alongside Christine Dwyer (Elphaba), Jeanna de Waal (Glinda) and Gina Ferrall (Madame Morrible).

The touring versions of the hit Broadway musical are currently booked at least through July 2014. According to the show’s official website, it has won 35 major awards since opening, including Tony Awards and a Grammy Award. Here’s how the website describes the story of the musical.

“Wicked” is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. ‘Wicked’ tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

The musical is based on the 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire, which is a revisionist version of the classic L. Frank Baum novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” and the 1939 film version, “The Wizard of Oz.”

The musical version opened on Broadway in 2003 and features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman.