Wicked became one of the most popular musicals of the early 2000’s. The show is a musical adaptation of the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) by the American author Gregory Maguire. That novel reinterpreted the characters in the popular children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by the American author L. Frank Baum and in the 1939 motion picture adaptation.
Wicked opened on Broadway on Oct. 30, 2003, and became an immediate hit. Several touring companies later broke box-office records throughout the United States. The musical has also become a hit in several cities outside the United States.
Wicked is told through the characters of two witches who appeared in the motion picture, Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West, called Elphaba in the musical.
Glinda (first called Galinda) and Elphaba meet as new students at Shiz University, a school for sorcery, at the beginning of the show. Glinda is beautiful, popular, and spoiled. Elphaba was born with green skin and is an outsider with a fiery personality. As roommates, the two fight each other at first, but they gradually bond into a close friendship. A subplot portrays how the tyrannical Wizard of Oz oppresses the humanlike animals in his kingdom. Perhaps the best-known song in the show is “Defying Gravity,” a dramatic number Elphaba sings at the end of the first act as she soars above the stage.
Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked, and Winnie Holzman wrote the story and dialogue. Joe Mantello directed the original Broadway production, and Wayne Cilento was the choreographer. Kristin Chenoweth played Glinda, and Idina Menzel played Elphaba. Joel Grey was the Wizard of Oz.
