Fiyero’s Tight Pants Led to Norbert Leo Butz’s Wicked Love Connection

In one of Broadway’s favorite real-life love stories, Norbert Leo Butz met his now wife Michelle Federer when they both appeared in the original Broadway cast of Wicked. The How I Learned to Drive star created the role of rakish bad boy-turned-love interest Fiyero, and Federer played Elphaba’s delicate younger sister Nessarose. Showmances are a dime a dozen on the Great White Way, but Butz credits his costume with sealing the true love deal.

“I got me a wife out of those,” Butz said of his character’s infamously tight pants in an upcoming episode of Broadway.com’s Ask a Star. “I got Michelle Federer, who was checking out those white pants when I was ‘Dancing Through Life.’ Now she’s dancing through wife!”

No matter what item of clothing gets the credit, Butz must have been doing something right because Federer married him, bad puns and all, in 2007. The happy couple welcomed baby daughter Georgia Teresa to the world on January 2, 2011.

To hear all about Butz’s Wicked moves and more, check out his Ask a Star segment on February 27!