The taglines for Wicked have declared, “So Much Happened Before Dorothy Dropped In,” and “The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz.” Indeed, Wicked tells an alternate story to the Wizard of Oz, told from the point of view of the three witches of Oz, how they became who they are, and the parallel action going on during the original Wizard of Oz story.
Wicked premiered in May 2003 in San Francisco, then it went to Broadway at the Gershwin that October. Wicked went on tour in 2005, and it’s been flying high all over the world ever since. Wicked quickly became a major audience favorite for a new generation of theater goers, and has broken many theater records. Wicked had the biggest opening on London’s West End, and it also broke records for highest weekly Broadway gross, as well as the first play on Broadway to gross over $2 million in a week.
Wicked is the 18th longest running musical on Broadway, passing up My Fair Lady, and is also the 28th longest running Broadway Musical in history. In the summer of 2010, it was reported Universal was having meetings about turning Wicked into a full length feature film, with a number of top Hollywood directors being considered for the the big screen version. "Wicked the Broadway musical", was originally slated to be a movie, but the creators opted to take Wicked to the stage at the suggestion of lyricist Stephen Schwartz, and it has been a roller coaster of success.
Wicked, the musical, is based on a novel by Gregory Maguire, that cleverly tells a back story to the good and bad witches of Oz, and the novel Wicked is based on has proven to be a successful crowd pleaser that has shattered every ticket record around the world.
The play book for Wicked was written by Winnie Holzman, who also created the acclaimed TV series “My So Called Life,” and also wrote for “The Wonder Years,” and "thirty something.” The songs and lyrics for Wicked were composed by Stephen Schwartz.Schwartz also wrote the lyrics for the Disney films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, and Enchanted. Schwartz has won three Grammys, three Academy Awards, and has been nominated for six Tony awards.