Lucy The Good

Long before Disney's Frozen brought the explosive frisson of two heroic sisters to the screen, Steven Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's musical, Wicked, brought the power witches, Glinda the Good and Elphaba the Wicked to the stage. The multi-award-winning musical tells a parallel story to The Wizard Of Oz, focusing on the relationship between the two conjuring friends. After a sold-out premiere season that ended two years ago, Wicked returns to Melbourne this month as part of its ten-year anniversary tour. Homegrown star, Lucy Durack, returns too, as Glinda. For her, it's a role and a show that keeps on giving. 

“It's really nice to sink my teeth back into that familiar land of Oz that I love so much,” Durack effuses, having just landed back in Melbourne. She's been tapping back into the script on the plane and preparing for (ahem) a whirlwind rehearsal blast. “I actually think there's something a bit magical about Wicked. It's one of those shows that comes along once every decade, if you're lucky. It's got that X-factor that you love and everybody can relate to.”

Durack's been busy in the two years between runs. She's played Elle in the musical Legally Blonde, done two films, the Melbourne Theatre Company's Private Lives and married. Despite exciting worlds opening up for her with these new experiences, she has zero reservations about returning to the show. “Before I was in it, I wanted to see it a few times just so I could take it all in and wrap my head around it. I found that as an audience member it was completely intoxicating.”

Durack saw the show for the first time “kind of by chance”. In the UK for a singing competition, she had planned to spend a week hanging out in London. However, she made the competition finals and only had one night spare. She took the opportunity to see Wicked and the journey began. “The angle of the show that really gets to the core of my heart is the friendship between these two girls,” Durack says. “I love that the story has such guts and there's all this intrigue, but at the base of it this is a story about friendship. It's about looking beyond and if you do really go out of your comfort zone and listen to people and their stories you often do find greater things than you'd imagine.”

And Durack is anything but tired of the role. “People often ask, 'After 1600 performances of Wicked, did you ever get bored?'… 'NO WAY!' I think no matter where you see Wicked, people feel like they're getting their money's worth. Whether it's the lighting, the set, the costumes, or Steven Schwartz's score. I had the luxury of nipping over to Auckland with Reg Livermore [who plays The Wizard], to see the cast and they're so exciting and so talented. It's quite a generous show. There's a lot in it to keep you kind of occupied. I don't think you'd ever get bored going to see Wicked.”