Elphaba – Originated by Idina Menzel
After being Tony-nominated for Rent in 1996, Menzel cemented herself in theatre history with her Tony-winning portrayal of Elphaba. Her big song, “Defying Gravity,” is arguably one of the best and most well-known theater songs ever. She stayed with the show until 2005 and has since gone on to have a recurring role on Glee and become a Disney queen by voicing Elsa in the Frozen films.
It would be amazing to see a lesser-known actress take on this part and with the vocal challenges of the role, a Broadway actress would be the most apt to star.
Prior to her role on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Emmy Raver-Lampman starred in a number of musical theatre roles. She was in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton and joined the national tour as Angelica Schuyler. She has also already proven her vocal chops for Elphaba having been her standby in the national tour in 2014-2015.
Also from Hamilton is Ariana Debose. She was nominated for a Tony in 2018 for playing Donna Summer in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and is now making a name for herself in the movie musical world by playing Alyssa Greene in 2020’s The Prom and taking on Anita in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming remake of West Side Story.
Finally, Eva Noblezada was still in high school when producer Cameron Mackintosh cast her as the lead in the West End revival of Miss Saigon. She currently stars as Eurydice in the hit musical Hadestown. For her performances, she’s been nominated for two Tony Awards and won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
