Kerry Ellis (born 6 May 1979) is an English stage actress who has starred as Elphaba in the West End and Broadway productions of the musical Wicked . Among her previous notable roles are as Fantine in the West End production of Les Miserables and as Meat in the original London production of We Will Rock You .

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Personal life

Kerry Ellis was born in 1979 in Haughley, a small village near Stowmarket, Suffolk, which is where she grew up with her older brother Andrew. She attended Stowmarket High School and in 1995, Ellis joined the team of Starmakers at the age of 16, with which she was involved until 1997. Following this, Ellis returned to formal stage training at Laine Theatre Arts.

Theatre career

In 1996 and 1997, as a member of Starmakers, Ellis performed musical numbers such as "Memory" from Cats and "Sun and Moon" from Miss Saigon . In 2000, Ellis became a member of the My Fair Lady cast and became second understudy to Martine McCutcheon for the lead role of Eliza Dolittle, which she got to play on five occasions. During 2000 Ellis also understudied Marti Webb in Magic Of The Musicals .

In 2002, Ellis originated the role of Meat in We Will Rock You , and played this role for two years, making appearances for performances such as "Party in the Park", "Party in the Palace" and Parkinson . Ellis left the cast of We Will Rock You on 17 April 2004 and went on to play Ellen in Cameron Mackintosh's UK tour of Miss Saigon . On 7 June 2005 she joined the cast of Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, portraying the character Fantine.

In 2006, Ellis joined the cast of West End's new production of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, as the temporary standby for Idina Menzel, who originated the lead role. She took on the role scheduled to take over the full-time position as Elphaba after Menzel's pre-planned departure on 30 December 2006. Effectively, Ellis is the first British actress to play the role of Elphaba. For this role, Ellis won "Best Takeover in a Role" at the 2008 Theatregoer's Choice Awards. ^[1]

On 7 June 2008 Ellis temporarily departed the Apollo Victoria Theatre, where she was succeeded by Alexia Khadime, and transferred to the Broadway production of Wicked with performances starting from 17 June 2008. ^[2]

Ellis replaced actress Stephanie J. Block on Broadway, making her the first Elphaba to transfer from the West End to Broadway, mirroring original Broadway cast member Idina Menzel who transferred to London to open the production. For her run in the Broadway production Ellis won the Broadway.com Audience Award for "Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Female)". ^[3] Ellis left the Broadway Company on 9 November 2008 and she was replaced by Marcie Dodd.

Ellis returned to the West End production on 1 December 2008 and completed her time with Wicked on 9 May 2009, when Alexia Khadime returned. ^[4]

On 12 May and 13 2008, Ellis performed alongside Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal and Josh Groban in a special performance of Chess in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Ellis performed her rock version of "Defying Gravity" at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 on 11 December at the London Palladium in the presence of senior members of the Royal family. ^[5]

Ellis has also done the workshops for Way Beyond Blue , written by Imogen Stubbs and directed by Trevor Nunn and the title role in Helen of Troy , directed by Gary Griffin.

In March 2009, Ellis and other West End actors recorded songs for a musical treatment of Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind . ^[6]

Year	Show	Role	Venue	Notes
2008 - 2009	Wicked	Elphaba	Apollo Victoria Theatre	Returned to role.
2008	Wicked	Elphaba	George Gershwin Theatre	Transfer contract
2008	Chess	Svetlana	Royal Albert Hall, London	Two-day limited engagement
2006 - 2008	Wicked	Elphaba	Apollo Victoria Theatre	Took over as principal from Idina Menzel in 2007. Served as standby in 2006.
2005 - 2006	Les Misérables	Fantine	Queen's Theatre
2004	Miss Saigon	Ellen	National UK Tour
2002 - 2004	We Will Rock You	Meat	Dominion Theatre	Originated role
2000	My Fair Lady	Eliza Doolittle u/s	Royal National Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane	Understudied for Martine McCutcheon

Singing career

In 1999 Ellis sung on a recording for Children in Need and did a jingle for Capital Radio. In 2004 she worked with Queen lead guitarist Brian May to record an orchestral version of the song "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)", originally a Queen song and featured in the musical We Will Rock You . ^[7]

Ellis recently worked with Steve Sidwell to produce new recordings of the Wicked songs "I'm Not That Girl" and "No Good Deed". It was expected that a teaser CD of her forthcoming debut album, produced by Brian May in the time since Ellis left We Will Rock You and featuring drum tracks by Taylor Hawkins, would become available in June before she left for Broadway. ^[8]

The teaser CD was released on 7 July 2008 as Wicked In Rock and features rock versions of Wicked songs "I'm Not That Girl", "Defying Gravity" and a remastered version of her We Will Rock You song, "No One But You". The CD is on sale in London musical shop, Dress Circle, at the Gershwin Theatre and is available on the British iTunes. A limited edition 12" vinyl has also been released to purchase from Dress Circle. ^[9]

During her time performing as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway, Ellis recorded a song for Scott Alan entitled "Behind these Walls". This song is featured on his album Keys . ^[10]

In January 2009, Ellis sung with Mazz Murray and Peter Johansson in the Champions of Rock concert at De Geerhallen in Norrköping, Sweden.

On 15th and 16th May 2009, Ellis performed with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra alongside Mazz Murray, MiG Ayesa and Ricardo Afonso at the Symphonic Queen Spectacular at the Bournemouth International Centre's Windsor Hall. She is set to perform similar concerts in Weybridge on 1st August and Romsey on 15th August 2009 ^[11] plus possibly others around the country from July through to September.

During June 2009 Ellis performed 4 shows called "The Great British Songbook" at the Shaw Theatre (See below). ^[12]

Ellis performed with John Barrowman at the Henley Festival on 10 July 2009. ^[13]

Ellis appeared in OK! magazine on 23rd June alongside Patina Miller talking about "The Great British Songbook" and her time in Wicked. ^[14]

The Great British Songbook

On June 20, 21, 25 and 26 June 2009, Ellis performed her first solo concerts at The Shaw Theatre, Euston Road, London. The Great British Songbook celebrated the work of many of our leading contemporary composers and lyricists, including Queen, Coldplay, The Feeling and Goldfrapp. The series was devised by Neil Marcus and the Arranger and Musical Director was Steve Sidwell.

The song listing was as follows:

Act 1

1. The Greatest Day (Take That)

2. Somebody to Love (Queen)

3. Lloyd Webber Medley a. Unexpected Song (Song and Dance) b. Tell Me on a Sunday (Tell Me on a Sunday) c. Memory (Cats) d. Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (Evita)

4. Lost in Translation (By Craig Adams, from a new musical ‘Lift’)

5. James Bond Medley a. Diamonds are Forever (Shirley Bassey) b. A View to Kill (Duran Duran) c. Goldfinger (Shirely Bassey) d. Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)

6. Annie Lennox/The Eurythmics Medley a. Walking on Broken Glass b. Why c. Sweet Dreams are Made of These d. Here Comes the Rain Again e. There Must be an Angel

7. Rule the World (Take That)

Act II

1. Rain on Your Parade (Duffy)

2. A&E (Goldfrapp)

3. The Scientist (Coldplay)

4. You Give me Something (James Morrison)

5. Coldplay (Fix You)

6. Englishman in New York (Sting)

7. Without You (The Feeling)

8. I Love it When You Call (The Feeling)

9. Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)

10. Run (Snow Patrol)

Encore (Accompanied by Brian May)

1. Who Wants to Live Forever (Queen)

2. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen)

References

1. Your Theatregoers’ Choice Award Winners
2. London Wicked Finds Its New Elphaba
3. Headlines: The Fans Have Spoken! 2009 Broadway.com Audience Award Winners Announced
4. ALEXIA KHADIME TO RETURN TO WICKED IN 2009
5. http://www.eabf.org.uk/RVP-PressRelease08.pdf Press release announcing acts for the 2008 Royal Varie
6. Kerry Ellis & More Go Into Studio to Record 'Only You Can Save Mankind' Musical for Charity
7. Kerry Ellis performs No-One But You. [1]
8. The Wicked Witch of the West End is off to cast her spell over Broadway
9. Dress Circle selling "Wicked In Rock" [1]
10. Scott Alan confirms he will be working with Kerry Ellis[1]
11. BSO Concerts[1]
12. London Wicked Star Kerry Ellis Will Sing "Great British Songbook"
13. Henley Program of Events - Fri 10 July 2009[1]
14. Kerry Ellis and Patina Miller[1]