P.J. Benjamin Will Be Broadway's Wizard in Wicked

P.J. Benjamin will join the Broadway company of Wicked as the Wizard on July 29, succeeding Lenny Wolpe. Benjamin, who recently completed a three-week run as Joe Boyd in the Encores! summer production of Damn Yankees, is a veteran of Wicked's national tour, in which he played the Wizard for almost two years.

Benjamin's other Broadway credits include a six-year stint as Amos Hart in Chicago opposite 22 Roxies, Torch Song Trilogy, Sophisticated Ladies, Charlie and Algernon, Pippin, The Pajama Game and Sarava. His TV credits include Law and Order and Law and Order SVU, and he voiced the character of Sgt. Dodo Bird in the feature film Ice Age.

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. The smash hit musical 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 Witch.

The Broadway cast of Wicked currently includes Kerry Ellis as Elphaba, Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda, Jayne Houdyshell as Madame Morrible, Aaron Tveit as Fiyero, Cristy Candler as Nessarose, Ben Liebert as Boq, and Steven Skybell as Dr. Dillamond.