Rachel Tucker knows better than most what it means to defy gravity.
For more than four years she inhabited Elphaba, the misunderstood heroine at the heart of Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked, across the West End and Broadway, delivering more than 2,000 performances in a role she had longed to play since first watching the production in a New York theatre at 21.
Now, more than a decade after first portraying the emerald-skinned Wicked Witch of the West, the Belfast performer is returning to Oz.
Gravity reunites Tucker with fellow former Elphabas Kerry Ellis and Louise Dearman in a concert celebrating the music of Wicked alongside songs from across their stage careers.
The idea, she says, has been a long time coming.
“We were asked about 10 years ago if we would form our own Wicked supergroup but we were all either still doing Wicked or had just finished it or were having babies and it was never quite the right time.
“But two years ago it was floated again and we thought, ‘should we actually do this?’
“With the movie coming out it felt really current and when else are you going to get the chance to sing Wicked with two of your mates?
“So it really just felt like the right place and the right time in our careers to give it a proper go.”
The three women bring distinct histories with the musical. Ellis was the first British actress to play Elphaba in the West End and later on Broadway. Dearman remains the only performer to have played both Elphaba and Glinda in London. While Tucker first took on the role in the West End in 2010, later reprising it on Broadway and again for the 10th anniversary in 2016.
“It’s a massive privilege,” she says of sharing the stage with performers who understand the demands of the part.
“I remember watching Kerry when I was training at the Royal Academy of Music and being blown away. Then I saw her in We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre and she just lifted the roof off the place.
“Two years later I’m playing that same role, so getting to share stories from those experiences is really special.
“And I used to hear Louise’s voice on albums and think, ‘who is this?’ She sounded like an English Barbra Streisand. Before I even met them they were such iconic voices to me.
“So now getting to work with them and be part of this show is amazing - I’m pinching myself.”
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Gravity revisits some of Wicked’s most recognisable songs in new arrangements, alongside material from productions including We Will Rock You, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Evita and Sunset Boulevard.
“The songs we pick from Wicked are very important,” she says.
“There are different arrangements and sections that are special to us for different reasons, like when myself and Louise sing For Good.
“She was my Glinda when we were performing in the West End, so getting to do that again means a lot.”
However, Wicked was not Tucker’s first encounter with the yellow brick road. After leaving Northern Ireland to train at the Royal Academy of Music, she steadily built a reputation in theatre, including a lauded performance in The Wizard of Oz at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.
National exposure followed in 2008 when she reached the semi-final of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s BBC talent show I’d Do Anything. Though she describes Nancy as “the one role that got away”, the experience proved pivotal.
“I was working professionally,” she says. “But I was getting pipped to the post by girls who had been on TV and had a profile.
“That was my reason for doing the show and I’m so glad I did. The exposure it gave me was crazy and I’m forever grateful.”
She still lists that year’s alumni with disbelief, among them Samantha Barks, Jodie Prenger and Jessie Buckley - a reminder of how competitive that cohort proved to be.
From there came the role of Meat in We Will Rock You and, in 2010, her first run as Elphaba at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London’s West End.
The role would come to define much of her career. Across multiple contracts Tucker estimates she spent around four and a half years in the part.
“You’d get less for murder,” she laughs.
“I genuinely never get bored of singing anything from Wicked. I am still a massive Wicked fan.”
While her career has taken her across the Atlantic and beyond, Tucker admits that returning home still feels “a little bit special”.
Gravity comes to the Waterfront Hall in May, while in April she will fulfil a long-held ambition with a solo show at Belfast’s Grand Opera House.
“I love coming home,” she says.
“And especially with Louise and Kerry, I want to show off the Belfast audience. I just want to say, ‘look how brilliant they are.’
“The West End isn’t on our doorstep, so I think we’re really thirsty for it.
“With Gravity, you’re getting three powerhouse voices in one show. The Waterfront Hall is going to be buzzing.”
The Grand Opera House date feels particularly personal.
“From when I was a kid I always wanted to play the Grand Opera House, and I can’t believe it’s almost sold out.”
She is also keen to build on her recent work in television after three seasons as Siobhan O’Hare in BBC drama Hope Street.
“Hope Street is where I cut my teeth on TV. The cast genuinely are like a family.
“I’ve spent most of my career in musical theatre, so I feel like I’m starting again in film and TV, which is fine. It’s a long process and patience is a great thing.”
For now, however, her focus remains firmly on the stage.
“You’re not going to experience sound like it,” she adds of Gravity. “Our three voices together are roof-blowing.
“The craic is 90. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We wear fabulous dresses, we have a fantastic band and we’re singing songs people know and love.
“You’re not going to want to miss it.”
Gravity comes to The Waterfront Hall in Belfast on May 4. For tickets and additional information visit waterfront.co.uk or ticketmaster.ie.
