The wizard of ‘Wicked’ returns to CT after thousands of performances in the Broadway hit musical

Tom McGowan has played the Wizard in “Wicked” well over two thousand times, but the Yale School of Drama graduate, whose acting career spans Shakespeare, musicals, sitcoms and movies, never tires of hiding behind the curtain.

McGowan keeps the magical humbug role fresh by gauging it against the varying personalities of his co-stars.

“I try to adjust to who’s playing Elphaba,” said McGowan, who is with the “Wicked” tour that’s coming back to The Bushnell for a three-week run from April 24 through May 12. “That’s one of the reasons I haven’t gotten bored all these years. Elphaba is one of the great roles in history and one of the trickiest.”

For most of the Hartford run, Elphaba will be played by Olivia Valli, last seen at The Bushnell in the first national tour of the musical “Pretty Woman.”

“With her, I’m really focusing on the ‘fatherly’ thing,” McGowan said. “I try to be as fatherly as possible. Although the Wizard is this man behind the curtain who’s not so nice, he’s also new to this and just working it out. I try to keep that in mind.”

“Wicked” is a prequel of sorts to “The Wizard of Oz,” chronicling the school days of the Wicked Witch of the West (aka Elphaba) and Glinda the Good (currently played by Celia Hottenstein). The musical is based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, the first in his series of books giving an alternate take on the Oz characters created in the early 1900s by L. Frank Baum.

The musical, featuring the hit song “Defying Gravity,” has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a longtime Ridgefield resident who has had revivals of many of his musicals done at local theaters such as the Goodspeed Opera House (“Rags”) and ACT of CT (“Snapshots,” “Working,” “Godspell”). “Wicked” has a book by Winnie Holzman and was directed by Joe Mantello.

McGowan got into the Yale School of Drama on his third try. His professional career had an auspicious start when he took over the starring role in the Broadway comedy “La Bête,” the critically acclaimed play by David Hirson written entirely in rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter. Hollywood star Ron Silver had the role but left during the first week of performances. The run was short, but it made McGowan’s name.

He returned to Yale to do three shows at the Yale Repertory Theatre shortly after graduating: The George S. Kaufman comedy “The Solid Gold Cadillac” in 1989, “Daylight in Exile” by James D’Entremont for the Rep’s Winterfest series of new works in early 1990 and the Chekhov drama “Ivanov” (starring William Hurt) in the fall of 1990. Elsewhere in Connecticut, he appeared in readings of new plays at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford for five straight years.

Besides his many times with “Wicked,” he’s visited Connecticut during a national tour of another very long-running Broadway show, “Chicago.” McGowan played Amos Hart, the hapless husband whose anthem is “Mr. Cellophane.” Strangely, both Amos Hart and The Wizard are roles that originated on Broadway with Joel Grey.

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The long-awaited movie version of “Wicked,” starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, will release the first of its two parts this November. Anticipation for the film has created fresh interest in the musical. McGowan remembers a similar thing happening with “Chicago.”

“People kept asking me, ‘Is the movie going to kill the Broadway show?’ It didn’t. It helped it,” McGowan said.

McGowan has played the Wonderful Wizard of Oz on and off for 16 years. The tour coming to Hartford is called the “Munchkinland” tour to distinguish it from other “Wicked” ensembles happening around the world. McGowan was part of the Munchkinland tour when it first began in 2009.

“I’ve done the tour three different times and filled in another time,” he said.

It has taken him all around the country and to Hawaii. He’s also been in the Broadway cast of “Wicked” twice, in the eighth and 10th years of its now 20-year New York run, and is the only American actor to have played the Wizard in London’s West End.

He’s been with the Munchkinland tour this time for four months. Two weeks ago, he marked his 2,300th performance as the Wizard.

He’s been able to take long breaks from “Wicked” over the years. “I’ve done three other Broadway shows and a lot of TV in that time,” he said, including a key role on the first season of “The Good Fight.” He was able to achieve a personal dream last year when he played Falstaff in Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at The Old Globe in San Diego. He was also in the Hallmark Channel movie “One Royal Holiday,” filmed in Connecticut in 2020.

Depending on the age of who recognizes him, he jokes, he’s perhaps known for “Frasier” (playing Kenny Daly on 42 episodes of the sitcom), “Everybody Love Raymond (17 episodes as Bernie Gruenfelder) and the Ben Stiller-starring 1995 Disney comedy “Heavyweights.”

While “Wicked” is in Hartford, the Munchkinland tour will make numerous changes in its cast. Several of the lead roles will have different actors playing them starting May 7, the last week of performances at The Bushnell. From that point, Lauren Samuels will replace Valli Elphaba, Austen Danielle Bohmer (who was an ensemble member in “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2016) will be the new Glinda and Aymee Garcia will play Madame Morrible (taking over from Kathy Fitzgerald). McGowan will pass his Wizard hat to Blake Hammond, whom Bushnell audiences have seen previously in national tours of “Something Rotten,” “The Addams Family” and “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.”

“This is a top-shelf tour,” McGowan said. “They always find these incredible young actresses. They change the principals because they like to keep it fresh. The assistant director comes out to see it at every other city. They’ve kept this show really sharp.”

“Wicked” runs April 24 through May 12 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Performances are Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m. $54-$213. bushnell.org.