Willemijn Verkaik (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈʋɪləmɛiɱvərˈkɑik]; born 16 June 1975) is a Dutch singer and actress. She is best known for her stage roles in the musicals Wicked and Elisabeth, and for providing the voice of Elsa in the German version (singing only) and the Dutch version of Disney's Frozen.
Verkaik performed the role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked more than 2,000 times, the most of any actress, and is the only person to have played the role in three languages. Her first performance as Elphaba was on 31 October 2007, in Stuttgart, Germany, and her last performance was on 22 July 2017 in the West End in London.[citation needed]
Verkaik as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked in 2014
Her other musical theatre credits have included Elisabeth (in Holland and Thun, Switzerland),[when?][4]The Three Musketeers,[when?]We Will Rock You,[when?][1][2] and, for the longest period of time, Elphaba in Wicked; Verkaik is the only actress to have played Elphaba in three languages, in German, Dutch, Broadway, and West End productions.[citation needed] Verkaik originated the role of Elphaba in the first German-language production of Wicked, "Wicked: Die Hexen Von Oz", in Stuttgart from 1 November 2007.[5][6][7] She repeated her performance in the Dutch-language production in Scheveningen from 6 November 2011 until 11 January 2013, and transferred to the Broadway production in New York, marking her third language production, from 12 February 2013 to 26 May 2013.[8]
Verkaik subsequently played the role of Donna in the Stuttgart production of Mamma Mia! from 26 July 2013,[9] before reprising the role of Elphaba in the West End production from 18 November 2013.[10] She left the production on 19 July 2014 for health reasons.[11]
She can be heard on Wicked's German-language cast recording, as well as Scott Alan's album What I Wanna Be When I Grow Up[12] and on the Scott Alan album LIVE, which was recorded at the Birdland jazz club in New York City on 30 April 2012. The CD was released on 26 June 2012. Verkaik provided the Dutch speaking and singing voice and the German singing voice of Elsa in Disney's 2013 animated movie Frozen.[citation needed] She also performed the song "Let It Go" in English at the UK premiere of the movie.[citation needed]
She returned to the role of Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked beginning 30 January 2017 as part of the production's 10th-anniversary celebrations.[15] She played her final performance there on 22 July 2017.[16]
She next starred in Ghost – Das Musical in Berlin from 7 December 2017 to 7 October 2018, as Molly.[17] She appeared as Sloane at the Metronom Theater in Bat Out of Hell from 8 November 2018 to 30 March 2019.[18] She played Pepa in the Amsterdam production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown from 4 July 2019 to 14 July 2019[19][20] and toured the Netherlands as Miss Hannigan in Annie from 26 November 2019 to 24 May 2020.[20]
On 9 February 2020, Verkaik joined Idina Menzel, Aurora and eight more of Elsa's international dubbers to perform the song "Into the Unknown" during the 92nd Academy Awards. Every international performer sang one line of the song in a different language.[21] She played the lead role of Jenna in Waitress in the Netherlands in 2020–2021.[22] In 2023, she took over the role of Elsa in the German production of Frozen.[23]
Personal life
She is married to musician Bart van Hoof, a saxophone player.[24]
