Original Morrible returns to ‘Wicked’

NEW YORK – Madame Morrible, the crafty headmistress of “Wicked,” has been played by a parade of impressive ladies including Carol Kane, Rue McClanahan, Jayne Houdyshell and, in London, by \nMiriam Margolyes.\nNow the Broadway original, Carole Shelley, has returned to the New York company of the long-running musical hit which currently stars Julia Murney as the green witch, Elphaba, and Kendra Kassebaum as Glinda, her blonde counterpart.\nShelley was in “Wicked,” a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” when it premiered Oct. 30, 2003, at the Gershwin Theatre. The musical has a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman and is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire.\nThe actress was one of the Pigeon sisters in the original Broadway cast of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” (1965) and won a best-actress Tony Award for her performance in “The Elephant \nMan” (1979).