Catching Up With Alyssa Fox and McKenzie Kurtz—the Stars Ushering in Wicked’s 20th Anniversary

When Wicked picked its thematic birthday in 2003, no one could have anticipated that October 30, in all its spooky splendor, would still be Wicked’s special day 20 years hence. Yet here we are, two decades and over $5.5 billion later, counting down to the celebration that will send Wicked into its third decade on Broadway (a threshold only three other productions in Broadway history have crossed). And just as the original opening-night festivities swirled around Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth—the pair of stars who launched the Stephen Schwartz musical to its rarefied status—Wicked gets to commemorate this birthday with a new generation’s Elphie and Glinda.

Alyssa Fox and McKenzie Kurtz are the women currently donning Wicked’s famous hues of green and pink at the Gershwin Theatre, and the…gravity…of being at the epicenter of this Broadway milestone is beginning to hit them. In an all-Wicked episode for The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal, Fox and Kurtz agree on the adjective “overwhelming” to describe their feelings heading into the October 30 celebration. “It's not lost on us how exciting this moment is for Wicked and for the whole fandom,” says Fox, eventually allowing some personal pride to poke through, adding, “and for us.”

Fox joined the world of Wicked in 2009, understudying in San Francisco for one of Wicked’s many legendary green girls, Eden Espinosa. She became Elphaba’s Broadway standby in 2016, let it go for a while to be Elsa’s standby in the Broadway production of Frozen, and returned to Oz in March 2023 to be Broadway’s fulltime Elphaba.

“When I first saw Wicked, it was on the tour in Dallas because that's where I'm from,” Fox tells Fadal, digging up her earliest memories of the show. “I know that we didn't really have enough money to buy seats all together, so my mom was sitting up in the balcony and she let me have the seat up close.” It was a worthy investment because by intermission, Fox had a new goal. “I remember, in the same building, calling [my mom] after ‘Defying Gravity’ and being like, ‘I have to do this. This is what I'm going to do.’”

Kurtz, who also previously dabbled in the land of Frozen (as Princess Anna), mounted her Broadway bubble as Glinda in February 2023. Her first Wicked experience took place where she now performs every night. “I think I was eight or nine years old sitting in this theater,” Kurtz says, recalling a remarkably similar experience as Fox. “My mom bought us all separate tickets so we could be as close to the stage as possible. I remember sitting here at nine years old, watching this incredible show, sobbing, and just being so inspired. It's a show that I've wanted to be a part of since I was a kid.”

Today, Fox and Kurtz are not only a part of Wicked, they are the main event—and are taking their rightful place in the Broadway production’s ever-expanding legacy of illustrious performers. Even more than a night of red carpets and photographers, gathering with the community of former Ozians is what will make Monday’s festivities so special for this duo—two performers who began their journeys to the Gershwin as awestruck fans.

“I'm pretty sure a lot of the former Glindas and Elphabas are coming,” Fox says. “I've met a few of them and I've worked with a few of them, but I'm really excited to see them all and then have a little party.” Fox naturally singles out Espinosa as a familiar face she hopes to see in the mix. But Kurtz finally speaks what’s on the minds of everyone in the Wicked universe: “I'm hoping Kristin and Idina make an appearance,” she says. “We'll see. But those are the OGs and inspirations.”