Wicked (musical)

Wicked
The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz
Official poster of the original San Francisco production
Music	Stephen Schwartz
Lyrics	Stephen Schwartz
Book	Winnie Holzman
Basis	Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Premiere	May 28, 2003: Curran Theatre, San Francisco
Productions	2003 San Francisco (tryout) 2003 Broadway 2005 1st U.S. tour 2006 West End 2009 2nd U.S. tour 2013 1st UK/Ireland tour 2017 2nd UK/Ireland tour 2023 3rd UK/Ireland Tour Multiple international productions (see below)
Awards	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Broadway Musical Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical

Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is a loose adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is in turn based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation.

The musical is told from the perspective of two witches of the Land of Oz. Its plot begins before and continues after Dorothy Gale arrives in Oz from Kansas. Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba (later known as the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (later known as Glinda the Good), whose friendship struggles through their opposing personalities, viewpoints, same love interest, reactions to the Wonderful Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's fall from grace.

Produced by Universal Stage Productions, in coalition with Marc Platt, Jon B. Platt, and David Stone, with direction by Joe Mantello and choreography by 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, and Joel Grey as the Wizard.^[1] The original Broadway production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award. On April 11, 2023, with its 7,486th performance, it surpassed Cats to become Broadway's fourth-longest running show.^[2] A typical performance of the show takes about two hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission.^[3]

The success of the Broadway production has spawned many productions worldwide, including a long-running West End production. Wicked has broken box-office records around the world, holding weekly-gross-takings records in Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, and London. In the week ending January 2, 2011, the London, Broadway, and both North American touring productions simultaneously broke their respective records for the highest weekly gross.^[4][5] In the final week of 2013, the Broadway production broke this record again, earning $3.2 million.^[6] In 2016, Wicked surpassed $1 billion in total Broadway revenue, joining The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King as the only Broadway shows to do so. In 2017, Wicked surpassed The Phantom of the Opera as Broadway's second-highest grossing musical, trailing only The Lion King.^[7]

A two-part film adaptation, directed by Jon M. Chu starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Galinda, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as the Madame Morrible, and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero is currently in the works. The first part is set for release on November 27, 2024, with the second part to follow a year later on November 26, 2025.