Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is loosely based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, which itself was based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and its 1939 film adaptation. Set in the Land of Oz before and after Dorothy Gale's arrival from Kansas, the musical explores the complex relationship between Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland — the future Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good — as they are tested by their contrasting perspectives, shared love interest, and reactions to the Wizard's corrupt rule, culminating in Elphaba's tragic fall.
Produced by Universal Stage Productions with producers Marc Platt, Jon B. Platt and David Stone, director Joe Mantello and choreographer Wayne Cilento, the original production of Wicked premiered on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre in October 2003, after completing pre-Broadway tryouts at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in May and June of that year. Its original stars included Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. Despite mixed reviews, the production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award.
Long-running productions of Wicked include a West End production at the Apollo Victoria Theatre that has played over 7,407 performances, as well as multiple North American tours since 2005. The musical has broken several weekly box-office records around the world; in January 2011, the Broadway, London, and North American touring productions simultaneously broke their records for the highest weekly gross. In the final week of 2024, the Broadway production became the first to earn over US$5 million in a single week. Wicked surpassed $1 billion in total Broadway revenue in 2016, joining The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King as the only shows to do so, and surpassed The Phantom of the Opera by 2017 to become Broadway's second-highest grossing musical, trailing only The Lion King.
A two-part film adaptation was directed by Jon M. Chu and starred Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard. The first part, featuring extended cameos by Menzel and Chenoweth, was released on November 22, 2024, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture among numerous other accolades. The second part, Wicked: For Good, was released on November 21, 2025.
Inception and development
Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz discovered Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West while on vacation and saw its potential for a dramatic adaptation. However, Maguire had released the rights to Universal Pictures, which had planned to develop a live-action feature film. In 1998, Schwartz persuaded Maguire to release the rights to a stage production while also making what Schwartz himself called an "impassioned plea" to Universal producer Marc Platt to realize Schwartz's own intended adaptation. Persuaded, Platt signed on as joint producer of the project with Universal and David Stone.The novel, described as a political, social, and ethical commentary on the nature of good and evil, takes place in the Land of Oz, in the years surrounding Dorothy's arrival. The story centers on Elphaba, a misunderstood, smart, and fiery girl with emerald-green skin, who grows up to become the Wicked Witch of the West, and Galinda, the beautiful, blonde, popular girl who grows up to become Glinda the Good. The story is divided into five scenes, based on the locations where Elphaba lives during her life; it presents events, characters, and situations adapted from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. The novel addresses some serious and dark adult themes, including sexual assault, political unrest, infidelity, racism and the role of religion in society. It prompts the reader to think about what it really is to be "Wicked", and whether good intentions with bad results are the same as bad intentions with bad results. Schwartz considered how best to condense the novel's dense and complicated plot into a sensible script. To this end, he collaborated with writer Winnie Holzman to develop the outline of the plot over the course of a year, while meeting with producer Marc Platt to refine the structural outline of the show, creating an original stage piece rather than a strict adaptation of Maguire's work.
While the draft followed Maguire's idea of retelling the story of the 1939 film from the perspective of its main villain, the storyline of the stage adaptation "goes far afield" from the novel. Holzman observed in an interview with Playbill that: "It was brilliant idea to take this hated figure and tell things from her point of view, and to have the two witches be roommates in college, but the way in which their friendship develops—and really the whole plot—is different onstage." Schwartz justified the deviation, saying: "Primarily we were interested in the relationship between Galinda—who becomes Glinda—and Elphaba... the friendship of these two women and how their characters lead them to completely different destinies." Other major plot modifications include Fiyero's appearance as the Scarecrow, Elphaba's survival at the end, Nessarose using a wheelchair instead of being born without arms, Boq having a continuing love interest for Glinda and eventually becoming the Tin Woodman instead of Nick Chopper, cutting Elphaba's years in the Vinkus, the deletion of Liir's birth, Fiyero not having a wife and children, Doctor Dillamond being fired instead of being murdered, and Madame Morrible going to prison instead of dying.
The book, lyrics, and score for the musical were developed through a series of readings. In these developmental workshops, Kristin Chenoweth, the actress whom Schwartz had in mind while writing the character, joined the project as Glinda. Stephanie J. Block played Elphaba in the workshops before Idina Menzel was cast in the role in late 2002. Earlier that year, the creators recruited New York producer Stone, who began planning the Broadway production. Joe Mantello was engaged as director and Wayne Cilento as choreographer, while designer Eugene Lee created the set and visual style for the production inspired by W. W. Denslow's original illustrations for Baum's novels and Maguire's concept of the story being told through a giant clock. Costume designer Susan Hilferty created a "twisted Edwardian" style in building more than 200 costumes, while lighting designer Kenneth Posner used more than 800 lights to give each of the 54 distinct scenes and locations "its own mood". By April 2003, the show was in rehearsals.
Following the out-of-town tryout in San Francisco in May and June 2003, which received mixed critical reception, the creative team made extensive changes before its transfer to Broadway. Holzman recalled:
Stephen wisely had insisted on having three months to rewrite in-between the time we closed in San Francisco and when we were to go back into rehearsals in New York. That was crucial; that was the thing that made the biggest difference in the life of the show. That time is what made the show work.
Elements of the book were rewritten, while several songs underwent minor changes. "Which Way is the Party?", the introductory song to the character Fiyero, was replaced by "Dancing Through Life". Concern existed that Menzel's Elphaba "got a little overshadowed" by Chenoweth's Glinda, with San Francisco Chronicle critic Robert Hurwitt writing, "Menzel's brightly intense Elphaba the Wicked Witch a chance of holding her own alongside Chenoweth's gloriously, insidiously bubbly Glinda." As a result, the creative team set about making Elphaba "more prominent". In making the Broadway revisions, Schwartz recalled, "It was clear there was work to be done and revisions to be made in the book and the score. The critical community was, frankly, very helpful to us."
Synopsis
Act One
The citizens of Oz are celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda the Good Witch appears and reminisces about their past, beginning with the troubled childhood of the Witch after her mother had an affair and her father, the Governor of Munchkinland, disowned her when she was born with green skin.Flashing back many years earlier, Elphaba arrives at Shiz University with her younger paraplegic sister Nessarose, where she is ostracized for her green skin and sarcastic personality. The school's headmistress, Madame Morrible, assigns Elphaba to room with the popular Galinda Upland. Recognizing Elphaba's magical potential, Morrible decides to privately tutor Elphaba in sorcery, making Galinda intensely jealous. The two girls soon come to loathe each other. Meanwhile, Dr. Dillamond, the only animal professor at Shiz, informs Elphaba of a conspiracy to stop all animals from speaking.
A roguish prince, Fiyero, begins attending Shiz and arranges a party for his fellow students. Galinda becomes immediately enamored with him, and convinces her admirer, the Munchkin Boq, to take Nessarose to the party instead so that she can go with Fiyero. At Nessarose's urging, Elphaba asks Morrible to begin teaching Galinda sorcery. When Elphaba is mocked at the party for wearing an ugly hat Galinda gave her as a practical joke, Galinda has a change of heart and decides to dance with Elphaba. In their room, the girls finally bond and Galinda gives Elphaba a makeover. The next day, Dillamond tells the class he has been dismissed. His human replacement showcases a cage, a new invention in Oz designed to stop animals from speaking. Elphaba, furious, frees the lion cub imprisoned within it and escapes with Fiyero. They share a private moment, but Elphaba laments that Fiyero has chosen Galinda.
Morrible tells Elphaba that the Wizard of Oz wants to meet her, and she goes with Galinda, who changes her name to Glinda in honor of Dillamond, to the Emerald City. The two meet the Wizard and are surprised to discover his mortal nature. Morrible appears and announces she is the Wizard's new press secretary. After being tricked into enchanting the Wizard's monkey servants to painfully sprout wings, Elphaba deduces that the Wizard is behind the suppression of animals and is a fraud who uses parlor tricks and lies to stay in power. Elphaba flees his chambers, declaring against Glinda's wishes that she must do what is right. Though empathetic, Glinda refuses to leave with Elphaba, and the two friends bid farewell before Elphaba enchants a broom to fly away from the Emerald City, vowing to fight the Wizard with all of her power.