K. Todd Freeman

The national tour of Wicked will welcome new leading ladies when the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical begins performances Jan. 3 at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

According to the official Wicked website, Victoria Matlock will star as the misunderstood, green-faced Elphaba with Christina DeCicco as the curly-locked Glinda. Matlock has been seen in the tours of The Full Monty, Evita and Jekyll & Hyde: In Concert; DeCicco’s credits include regional productions of Urinetown, West Side Story, Beauty and the Beast and Annie Get Your Gun.

The touring company of the hit musical also features Alma Cuervo as Madame Morrible, P.J. Benjamin as The Wizard, Cliffton Hall as Fiyero, K. Todd Freeman as Dr. Dillamond, Deedee Magno Hall as Nessarose and Josh Lamon as Boq.

Wicked will play the Providence venue through Jan. 21. Following its Rhode Island engagement, the musical will play Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre beginning Jan. 24.

Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, which turned every Oz myth inside out, Wicked explores the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba. The two main characters meet at Shiz, a school where both hope to take up sorcery. Glinda is madly popular and Elphaba is, well, green. By a misunderstanding, they wind up roommates and, after an initial period of mutual loathing, begin to learn something about each other. Their life paths continue to intersect through a shared love, entry into the Emerald City and interaction with the Wizard himself. Eventually, their choices and convictions take them on widely different paths.

The Broadway company, directed by Joe Mantello, plays the Gershwin Theatre.