The Broadway musical Wicked is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
The stage musical opened at the Gershwin Theatre in October 2003. Winnie Holzman wrote the book, and Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics. The story imagines an earlier life for Elphaba, later associated with the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, later known as the Good Witch.
Wicked is a prequel and parallel story to the world of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film adaptation. It is not a direct stage adaptation of the 1939 movie.
The musical became especially known for songs such as “Defying Gravity,” but that song is only one part of its broader friendship-and-politics narrative.