Every person who has ever lived in Kansas knows “The Wizard of Oz.” Every person who has ever lived in Kansas and traveled anywhere else in the world knows that the first thing other people say to you when they learn you've lived in Kansas is a joke that references “The Wizard of Oz.” In the olden days, when I was growing up, the film version of “The Wizard of Oz” was broadcast on television every year, and it was an important family event. The music was fun, the actors were great, and the contrast between the colorless world of Dorothy's reality and the jazzed-up technicolor dreamworld was breathtaking—and it all came down to the simple idea that “there's no place like home.”
In 1995, writer Gregory Maguire came out with the novel “Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which told the familiar story from a different point of view. Less than ten years later, in 2003, an adapted version for the stage, Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz, made its debut on Broadway.
The stage adaptation departs from the novel in a number of significant ways. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics, and Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book for the musical, were more interested in developing the concept of the novel than the plot line. Schwartz explained, “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.”
Wicked is onstage at Century II via the Theatre League from October 12th through the 23rd.
