Louise Dearman

Louise Dearman is a British singer and actress, who is best known for starring as both Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz, the only actress in the world to do so, in the West End production, alongside various other theatrical and television performances.

Biography[]

Louise Dearman grew up in Linslade, Bedfordshire, England. She first began dance lessons at the age of three, and started to consider a stage career after appearing as part of a children's choir in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium when she was thirteen. She then went on to train at Laine Theatre Arts for three years from leaving school, where she won their Musical Theatre Award and Opera Award.

Various theatre works[]

Immediately after graduating from Laine theatre arts in 1998, Dearman joined the touring cast of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as the Narrator. Then, after performing in the ensemble of Whistle Down the Wind in Bromley, she portrayed Jan in the Grease UK tour in 2000, which she later returned to in 2003 at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Other roles Dearman has portrayed have been Lucy Harris in the national tour of Jekyll and Hyde, Mimi and understudy to Miss Adelaide and Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre (she then took over the role of Sarah Brown a year later in the touring production of the show), Debbie in Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival, Eva Perón in the tour of Evita, and Grizabella in Cats in Cyprus.

Other stage credits include Kiss Me, Kate, Christmas Cat and The Pudding Pirates, the Willian Finn revue Make Me a Song at the New Players Theatre, Belle in the workshops of new musical Only the Brave, and the workshop production of Brick by Brick. In addition to this, she has featured in a number of concerts; as a guest vocalist with Michael Ball in his Michael Ball: Past and Present tour, and in her one woman concert You and I in multiple venues. Dearman has appeared in pantomime versions of Cinderella three times.

Wicked[]

Louise originally played Glinda in the West End production of Wicked on 29 March 2010 replacing Dianne Pilkington. She starred alongside Rachel Tucker as Elphaba. Ironically, the two had previously spoofed their roles a year earlier in So Jest End, a show parodying the West End. Louise decided to leave the company, and played her final performance on 10 December 2011. Dearman was then replaced by Gina Beck (former Christine in Phantom).

Fans enjoyed the performance of Louise and Rachel together leading to the name of "Tuckman".

Surprisingly on 2 August 2012 it was announced that Louise would return later in the year after Rachel's contract ends, and this time portray the role of Elphaba. Louise returned to Wicked on 29 October 2012 and became the fifth actress to portray Elphaba in the West End, and the only one in the world to have portrayed both Elphaba and Glinda. She stars alongside her replacement Gina Beck as Glinda and Ben Freeman as Fiyero. She was replaced by international Elphaba Willemijn Verkaik on the 16th November 2013 who has played the role in four countries.

Recordings[]

Dearman released her debut album You and I in 2005, with renditions of songs from well known musicals. The album was re-released in 2010 and was available to buy through the Ozdust Boutique at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London.

On 7 May 2012, Dearman released her new album named Here Comes the Sun.

On 2 December 2013, shortly after leaving Wicked, Dearman released her third studio album, It's Time. The album is a collection of well known songs from musical theatre with orchestral arrangements. The songs on this album include: Astonishing from "Little Women", Falling Slowly from "Once" and many more.