Wicked (musical)
Musical reimagining of the Wicked Witch of the West's story.
Wicked (known in full as Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz) is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman.
- venue
- Gershwin Theatre, Broadway
- composer_lyricist
- Stephen Schwartz
- book_by
- Winnie Holzman
- original_stars
- Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Norbert Leo Butz, Joel Grey
- awards
- Three Tony Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, Grammy Award for original cast album
Lore & Background
Composer Stephen Schwartz discovered Gregory Maguire's novel on vacation and saw its dramatic potential. After persuading Maguire to release stage rights and Universal producer Marc Platt to support the adaptation, Schwartz collaborated with Winnie Holzman over a year to develop the plot. The stage adaptation deviates significantly from the novel, focusing on the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda and their contrasting destinies. Developmental workshops included Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda and Stephanie J. Joe Mantello directed, Wayne Cilento choreographed, and Eugene Lee designed the set inspired by W. W. Denslow's illustrations.
Reader's Guide
Wicked became a major commercial success despite mixed initial reviews. A two-part film adaptation directed by Jon M.
Did You Know?
- The musical's original production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards.
More in Music 1-24
Elsewhere in the Music universe
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record