Willemijn Verkaik


Willemijn Verkaik 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 and the Dutch version of Disney's Frozen. Verkaik is the only person to have played the role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked in three languages and more than 2,000 times – more than any other actress. Her first performance as Elphaba was in 2007, in Stuttgart, Germany, and her last performance was in 2017 in the West End in London.
Verkaik began her career singing in bands for over ten years. She moved to musical theatre, appearing in ensembles and smaller roles from 2001, and finally starring in the title role of Elisabeth. This was followed by Elphaba in Wicked in several productions from 2007 to 2017, including on Broadway and in the West End. Other starring roles have included Donna in Mamma Mia!, Paulina and later Pepa in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Kala in Tarzan, Molly in Ghost – Das Musical, Sloane in Bat Out of Hell, Mrs. Hannigan in Annie, Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Elsa in Frozen and Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Most of her work has been in the Netherlands and Germany, with roles in Switzerland, the US, the UK and Austria.
WWW willemijnverkaik.nl

Early life

Verkaik was born in Son en Breugel, Netherlands, on 16 June 1975, and grew up in Nuenen near Eindhoven. She graduated from the Rotterdam Conservatory.

Career

Verkaik began her career singing in various pop bands for over ten years. Her first professional theatre credit was in the ensemble of the Dutch production of Elisabeth. In 2004, Verkaik recorded the singing voice of Erica for the Dutch version of the animated movie Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper. In 2008, she was the Dutch voice of Lydia in Barbie & the Diamond Castle.
Her other musical theatre credits have included Elisabeth and Thun, Switzerland ), The Three Musketeers, We Will Rock You and Elphaba in Wicked several times; Verkaik was the only actress to have played Elphaba in three languages, She originated the role in the first German-language production, Wicked: Die Hexen Von Oz, in Stuttgart from 1 November 2007 and played the role more than 2,000 times, more than any other actress, until 29 January 2010. She played it in the Dutch-language production in Scheveningen from 6 November 2011 until 11 January 2013, and transferred to the Broadway production from 12 February 2013 to 26 May 2013.
Verkaik played the role of Donna in the Stuttgart production of Mamma Mia! from 26 July 2013 for a three-month run, before reprising the role of Elphaba in the West End Wicked from 18 November 2013. She left the production on 19 July 2014 for health reasons. She played Pauline in musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End from 16 December 2014 until 23 May 2015. This was her first role after a surgery in 2014. She returned to Stuttgart as Kala in Tarzan in August 2015. Her last show as Kala was on 29 May 2016.
Verkaik returned to the role of Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked from 30 January to 22 July 2017. She next starred in Ghost – Das Musical in Berlin from 7 December 2017 to 7 October 2018, as Molly. She appeared as Sloane at the Metronom Theater in Bat Out of Hell from 8 November 2018 to 30 March 2019. She played Pepa in the Amsterdam production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown from 4 July 2019 to 14 July 2019 and toured the Netherlands as Miss Hannigan in Annie from 26 November 2019 to 24 May 2020.
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. From 2022 to 2023, she played Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca in Vienna, Austria. In 2023, she took over the role of Elsa in the German production of Frozen. She left the show to star as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet, also in Hamburg, but then returned to Frozen, and her last performance as Elsa was on 29 September 2024.

Recordings

Verkaik appears on Wickeds German-language cast recording and the Scott Alan albums What I Wanna Be When I Grow Up and Live, 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 dubs of Disney's 2013 animated movie Frozen.

Personal life

She is married to musician Bart van Hoof, a saxophone player.

Theatre

ShowLocationRoleYearRef
ElisabethScheveningen, The NetherlandsEnsemble2001
Jeans 11Tour, The NetherlandsSoloist2001–2002
The Three MusketeersRotterdam, The NetherlandsEnsemble / understudy Queen Anna and Milady de Winter2003
EternityRotterdam, The NetherlandsBarbara2004
We Will Rock YouCologne, GermanyKiller Queen u/s2004–2005
ElisabethThun, SwitzerlandElisabeth2006
We Will Rock YouCologne, GermanyKiller Queen2006
WickedStuttgart, GermanyElphaba2007–2010
AidaTecklenburg, GermanyAmneris2009
WickedOberhausen GermanyElphaba2010–2011
WickedScheveningen, The NetherlandsElphaba2011–2013
WickedNew York, United States of AmericaElphaba2013
Mamma Mia!Stuttgart, GermanyDonna2013
WickedLondon, United KingdomElphaba2013–2014
Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownLondon, United KingdomPaulina2014–2015
TarzanStuttgart, GermanyKala2015–2016
WickedLondon, United KingdomElphaba2017
Ghost the MusicalBerlin, GermanyMolly2017–2018
Bat Out of HellOberhausen, GermanySloane2018–2019
Best of BroadwayTour, The Netherlands-2019
Aida in ConcertRosmalen, The NetherlandsAmneris2019
Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownAmsterdam, the NetherlandsPepa2019
AnnieTour, The NetherlandsMrs. Hannigan2019–2020
Come from AwayTour, The NetherlandsBeverly Bass, Annette2021–2022
RebeccaVienna, AustriaMrs. Danvers2022–2023
FrozenHamburg, GermanyElsa2023–2024
& JulietHamburg, GermanyAnne Hathaway2024–2025

Concert performances

Discography

Cast recordings

Jeans 11 Eternity Drie Musketiers ; DVD releaseWe Will Rock You – Das Original Musical Wicked, German cast recording Two of her tracks from the album, "Solang ich dich hab" and "Gutes tun" were included on the Broadway 5th anniversary cast recording Bonus CD also on the Broadway 2013 Deluxe edition's 2nd CD.Frozen, Dutch cast recording Frozen, German cast recording Olaf's Frozen Adventure, Dutch cast recording Olaf's Frozen Adventure, German cast recording Frozen II, Dutch cast recording Frozen II, German cast recording Frozen Fever, German cast recording Frozen Fever, Dutch cast recording
  • ''Rebecca''

Other albums

Stage Entertainment Presents Part 9 Musical Gala Ludwigsburg Stage Entertainment Presents Part 10 Musicalballads Unplugged – with Mark Seibert Superstars des Musicals – collection of 3 CDs Best of Musical – Gala 2010 Scott Alan: What I Wanna Be when I Grow Up Scott Alan: Live – double CD recorded at Birdland Let It Go: The Complete Set Disney's Grootste Hits Reflection – Kevin Tarte Kidszone – Zomer 2015 Disney Magic Moments
  • ''Disney's Grootste Hits''