History Theatre / Wicked

''Wicked'' tells the story of Elphaba, a girl who was born with green skin as the result of an affair between her mother and a traveling stranger with his bottle of green Elixiir. Soon after, her mother [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth]] to her wheelchair-bound sister, Nessarose, and Elphaba grows up as TheUnfavourite and full of SurvivorGuilt.

-->'''[[spoiler:Elphaba]]''': [[spoiler:Fiyero? Oh Tiyero! I thought you'd never get here!]]

* {{Bookends}}: The celebration of the Death of the Wicked Witch of the West opens and closes the show, from new angles and with slightly different moods each time.

* BreadAndCircuses: At the beginning of the second act, the population of Oz is in terror of attacks from Elphaba, whom they know as the Wicked Witch. So, what else to do... but have a party to celebrate the engagement of Glinda and Fiyero. "Fellow Ozians, as terrifying as terror is, let us put aside our panic for this one day, and celebrate." In addition to this, the folks of the Emerald City are regularly distracted by productions such as ''Wizomania'' and various other things to hide the trickery of the Wizard and his corrupt government. He himself says that he's ruling because the people of Oz need someone to believe in and that he is wonderful because they call him wonderful.

I'm [[{{TitleDrop}} wicked]] through and through\\

* MagicAIsMagicA: You can't undo one of the Grimmerie's spells once it's cast, you'll have to use a different spell that MIGHT get what you're after.

** Nessa's shoes, which start out silver (as they are in [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Baum's book]]) and turn [[Film/TheWizardOfOz red]] after Elphaba casts her spell on them.

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: The Wicked Witch of the West was pretty damn misunderstood. The Wicked Witch of the ''East'', on the other hand, was not.

* {{Smurfing}}: The citizens of Oz sure do love to use the word 'Oz' in every aspect of their language -- from exclamations like "Sweet Oz!" and "What in Oz's name?", to using adjectives such as 'ozmopolitan'. The Wizard's guards respond to his commands with "Yes, Your Ozness!"

Things change, however, when Doctor Dillamond, their TalkingAnimal teacher, is suddenly dismissed from his profession. Trying to discover where the nation's sudden bouts of racism stem from, Elphaba and Galinda -- now going by Glinda -- make the trip to Emerald City, to meet the Wizard. However, thanks to a LoveDodecahedron involving Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Nessarose, and a timid young Munchkin man named Boq, things become a lot more complicated than they had counted on. And as the two girls find themselves sucked into the plot of ''The Wizard of Oz'', it becomes inevitable that one becomes Glinda the Good -- and the other, the Wicked Witch of the West.

After going through a long period of DevelopmentHell including multiple dropped release dates, a [[MovieMultipack two-part]] film adaptation is in the works. Due to the importance of most songs to the narrative, it was decided to not cut anything, with AdaptationExpansion expected with book elements involved. It is set to be directed by Creator/JonMChu, with Creator/CynthiaErivo as Elphaba, Music/ArianaGrande as Glinda, Creator/JonathanBailey as Fiyero, Creator/MichelleYeoh as Mme. Morrible, and Creator/JeffGoldblum as the Wizard. ''Film/WickedPartOne'' is slated for release on Thanksgiving 2024, with ''Part Two'' set for Thanksgiving 2025.

* Literature/ArsGoetia: The ''Grimmerie'' tie-in book says that the titular SpellBook is called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lesser_Key_of_Solomon The Lesser Key Of Solomon]]'' on Earth.

* TheCaligula: What Nessarose becomes after she inherits the position of Governess of Munchkin Land, by ''enslaving their entire race'' out of MadLove for Boq. It's heavily implied absolutely no one in Munchkinland likes her, if it wasn't obvious enough in the source material that they ''celebrate after she gets smashed by a house''.

* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Dorothy, who is only present offstage twice and onstage in silhouette once, and the Cowardly Lion [[spoiler:(as an adult)]], the only part of whom we see is his tail. [[WordOfGod According to the companion book The Grimmerie]], Dorothy and the Lion were originally both in the opening, but were written out when the writers decided that having the two most memorable characters would conflict with the idea of the show.

* HeroicBSOD: "All right, enough! So be it!... so be it then." Elphaba loses it after [[spoiler:Fiyero dies]]. In the musical, we have the "No Good Deed" song.

* HomosocialHeterosexuality: A rare female version between Elphaba and Glinda. The two are fighting over Fiyero but the situation is much more about their friendship than their love for Fiyero.

-->'''Tin Man''': And this is more than just a service to the Wizard. I have a personal score to settle with El... with The Witch! ''It's due to her I'm made of tin / Her spell made this occur / So for once I'm glad I'm heartless / I'll be heartless killing her!''

* NamedByTheAdaptation: Elphaba and Nessa are nameless in Baum's book and the MGM movie. They got their names in Maguire's book, which the musical adapted. [[spoiler: Fiyero could count too, as the Scarecrow had no name in the original book and movie. And since the "Wicked" book doesn't actually portray Fiyero and the Scarecrow as the same person, the Scarecrow isn't named in the book either, only in the musical.]]

* Literature/ArsGoetia: The ''Grimmerie'' tie-in book says that the titular SpellBook is called ''The Lesser Key Of Solomon'' on Earth.

* AffablyEvil: The Wizard. He never once directly says a single harsh word to either Elphaba or Glinda. Some performances of "Wonderful" even have him and Elphaba share a dance before it all goes to hell. All he ever wanted was [[spoiler:to give people what they wanted and keep them happy.]]

** She saves Fiyero before the guards kill him, but he's now at risk of burning up more easily.

* HairFlip: "This is how you toss your hair!" ({{Beat}}) "[[ReadingTheStageDirectionsOutLoud Toss-toss.]]"

* HamToHamCombat: Glinda vs. Elphaba in Munchkinland.

* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Dorothy, who is only present offstage twice and in silhouette once, and the Cowardly Lion [[spoiler:(as an adult)]], the only part of whom we see is his tail. [[WordOfGod According to the companion book The Grimmerie]], Dorothy and the Lion were originally both in the opening, but were written out when the writers decided that having the two most memorable characters would conflict with the idea of the show.

-->'''Lion''': (off stage) [[BigNever No]]!!

** "Defying Gravity". An IAmWhatIAm song, as she finally embraces her true nature as a witch.

* IncomingHam: Young Galinda's high notes at the end of "Dear Old Shiz", as she is rolled onstage seated atop her piles of luggage, no less.
* InformedDeformity: Any character seeing Elphaba for the first time tends to recoil in shock at her supposed ugliness, simply because she's green. Even her best friend only calls her beautiful after a gaudy "makeover", and her lover calls her beautiful because he's "looking at things another way". In actual fact, Elphaba is a young and beautiful woman (with none of the uglyness of the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Wicked Witch of the West from the movie or the book the musical adapted from]], no crooked nose or warts) who only looks unattractive at the beginning of the musical because she wears her hair in a boring braid, glasses, and conservative clothes (which is clearly not what people find ugly about her).

** The first seven notes of the repeated "Unlimited" musical motif are the same (though their rhythm is very different) as those of "Over the Rainbow".

** From the same song, "I'll be so happy, I could melt!" and "When people see me, they will scream [for the Wizard and I]".
** Fiyero's "Maybe I'm brainless" in As Long As You're Mine as well.

* RewatchBonus: Quite a bit. One of the play's many strengths is that watching it a second time makes numerous different moments, lines, and interactions land quite differently than they did the first time. Probably the most notable examples are:

** Knowing that [[spoiler:Elphaba and Fiyero actually fake their deaths and survive the play; the latter becomes the Scarecrow by the end; and the Wizard is Elphaba's real father.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A major plot point is that animals are forced to stop speaking. At the end it is never mentioned if this FantasticRacism has been wiped out or not. It doesn't look too good considering the cowardly Lion is the only Animal to speak in the movie.
** However, the good part of the BittersweetEnding is that [[spoiler: Glinda is now in power and will most likely help the animals regain their rights]].

* BrokenAesop: Wicked's primary question, 'what makes one wicked?,' and all the messages that go with it, end up mildly broken due to the LighterAndSofter adaptation. For all of Elphaba's problems, in the musical, she is never truly wicked, so the musings seem kind of pointless. Also, the (admittedly depressing) [[AnAesop Aesop]] of 'No good deed going unpunished' is broken by Elphaba getting a happy ending in contrast to the extreme DownerEnding of the book. Though the lesson might be that people "have wickedness thrust upon them" specifically ''because'' Elphaba doesn't have to do anything wicked to be declared the Wicked Witch.

After going through a long period of DevelopmentHell including multiple dropped release dates, a [[MovieMultipack two-part]] film adaptation is in the works. Due to the importance of most songs to the narrative, it was decided to not cut anything, with AdaptationExpansion expected with book elements involved. It is set to be directed by Creator/JonMChu, with Creator/CynthiaErivo as Elphaba, Music/ArianaGrande as Glinda, Creator/JonathanBailey as Fiyero, Creator/MichelleYeoh as Mme. Morrible, and Creator/JeffGoldblum as the Wizard. The films will be released on Thanksgiving 2024 and 2025, respectively.

-->'''Glinda''': Because there has been so much rumour and speculation, innuendo, ''out''-uendo, let me set the record straight: According to the Time Dragon Clock, The Melting occurred at the thirteenth hour, the direct result of a bucket of water thrown by a female child. Yes. The Wicked Witch of the West is dead. "

Once she and Nessarose attend Shiz University, Elphaba accidentally becomes roommates with the pretty, popular and entirely insufferable Galinda Upland. The two girls instantly fall in loathing, but through a series of misunderstandings involving the rather shallow Prince Fiyero, they come to appreciate each other's perspectives. Slowly but surely, the two girls find common ground and end up becoming best friends.

Things change, however, when Doctor Dillamond, their TalkingAnimal teacher, is suddenly dismissed from his profession. Trying to discover where the nation's sudden bouts of racism stem from, Elphaba and Galinda -- now going by Glinda -- make the trip to Emerald City, to meet the Wizard. However, thanks to a LoveDodecahedron involving Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Nessarose, and a timid young munchkin man named Boq, things become a lot more complicated than they had counted on. And as the two girls find themselves sucked into the plot of ''The Wizard of Oz'', it becomes inevitable that one becomes Glinda the Good -- and the other, the Wicked Witch of the West.

''Wicked'' tells the story of Elphaba, a girl who was born with green skin as a result of an affair between her mother and a traveling stranger with is bottle of green Elixiir. Soon after, her mother [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth]] to her wheelchair-bound sister, Nessarose, and Elphaba grows up as TheUnfavourite and full of SurvivorGuilt.

''Wicked'' is the story of Elphaba, a girl who was born with green skin after her mother had an encounter with a traveling stranger. Soon after, her mother [[DeathByChildbirth died giving birth]] to Elphaba's wheelchair-bound sister, Nessarose, and Elphaba grows up as TheUnfavourite and full of SurvivorGuilt.

Once Elphaba and Nessarose are old enough to attend magical college at Shiz, Elphaba accidentally becomes roommates with the pretty, popular and entirely insufferable Galinda. The two girls instantly fall in loathing, but through a series of misunderstandings involving the rather shallow Prince Fiyero, they come to appreciate each other's perspectives. Slowly but surely, the two girls find common ground and end up becoming best friends.

** "You deserve each other!" used many times:

* ItsPersonal: Boq, or the Tin Man, states outright in "March of the Witch Hunters" that he's part of the group hunting the Wicked Witch (Elphaba) because he has a score to settle.

** Fiyero tries to remain aloof and entirely self-centered and succeeds for a little while, but ultimately when the chips are down he fails. Fiyero is also the first person we see in the musical who doesn’t scream/flinch/run away/etc when he first sees Elphaba. He is utterly unfazed. Already we start seeing that her being green doesn’t matter in the slightest to him. Even his joke about her being green is one of the tamest in the show. He doesn’t call her an artichoke like Glinda does or any other sort of rude name meant to demean her for being green. He just says “Maybe the driver saw green and thought it meant go”. Even if he doesn’t see anything WRONG with her being green, being green is still unusual. We INTERPRET that moment as a joke because that’s the expectation, but all we all know his INTENT is simply “Averic was surprised, give the guy a break”. After that point he doesn’t mention her being green again.

* LovableAlphaBitch: Galinda/Glinda, after a dose of character development.
* LoveDodecahedron: Nessarose loves Boq who loves Glinda who loves Fiyero who loves Elphaba who loves him back. To put it in perspective: [[spoiler: The Wicked Witch of the East loves The Tin Man who loves Glinda the Good Witch of the North who loves The Scarecrow who loves The Wicked Witch of the West.]] Made ever so slightly more complicated by the fact that Elphaba and Fiyero both also platonically care about Glinda, and Elphaba and Nessarose are sisters.

** The ''absolutely idiotic'' idea that Elphaba would melt if splashed with water. They use the joke a few times. [[ChekhovsGun Good thing, too.]]
** Nessa's shoes, which start out silver (as they are in [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Baum's book]]) and turn [[Film/TheWizardOfOz ruby red]] after Elphaba casts her spell on them.

** The Wicked Witch of the West's portrayal as a well-meaning but ineffective rebel against the speciesist policies of the Wizard [[spoiler:who is her illegitimate father]] stands in stark contrast to the version in [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]], who was unrepentantly evil and outright conquered "The West" years before the start of the story. Also, she didn't have green skin; that was made up for [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the movie]] and carried over to [[Literature/{{Wicked}} Maguire's novel on which the musical based on]].

-->'''Glinda and Elphaba:''' ''[holding hands with a HeldGaze]'' I hope you're happy in the end! I hope you're happy, my... friend. ''[they hug]''

** [[spoiler:Elphaba and Fiyero]] only fake their deaths in the musical--they actually do die in the novel.

-->'''Glinda''': ''Let us rejoicify that goodness could subdue / The wicked workings of you-know-who / Isn't it nice to know? / That good will conquer evil? / The truth we all believe'll by and by / Outlive a lie / For you and...''

-->'''Glinda''': Because there has been so much rumour and speculation, innuendo, outuendo, let me set the record straight: According to the Time Dragon Clock, The Melting occurred at the thirteenth hour, the direct result of a bucket of water thrown by a female child. Yes. The Wicked Witch of the West is dead. "
* SuitUpOfDestiny: Elphaba gradually accumulates the elements of her IconicOutfit over the course of the first act, with them all finally coming together just in time for the act finale, "Defying Gravity", when she foresakes her old life and commits to the course that will make her (in)famous.

* TheThreeFacesOfAdam: The major male characters are Fiyero (The Lord), Boq (The Hunter), and The Wizard (The Prophet).

* TooImportantToWalk: Winkie Prince Fiyero makes his first entrance carted onto the stage in a rickshaw pulled by Averic (and in the Broadway version, [[Literature/{{TheMarvelousLandOfOz}} the Saw-Horse]] as well).

* TorchSong: "I'm Not That Girl" is sung twice, once when Elphaba has a LoveRealization with Fiyero, and then Glinda sings it when Fiyero leaves to be with Elphaba.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The whole musical is a flashback, from Glinda's POV, to her and Elphaba's relationship. The first and last scenes, however, take place after the events of the original story.
* WickedWitch: No straight examples; there's at least one very wicked witch -- perhaps more, depending how one judges Glinda's and Nessarose's actions -- none of whom have any of the stereotypical trappings, and Elphaba of course has all the trappings without being wicked. As part of this, it's made clear that none of the trappings actually signify wicked witchiness in-story: the black dress and cloak are just a dress and a cloak, the worst anyone has to say about the pointy hat is that it's an unfashionable style and color, and the only reason she has a flying broom is that she needed something to levitate in a hurry and the broom happened to be what was lying around.

** Galinda doesn't get why her history teacher keeps talking about the past.

Things change, however, when Doctor Dillamond, their TalkingAnimal teacher, is suddenly dismissed from his profession. Trying to discover where the nation's sudden bouts of racism stem from, Elphaba and Galinda -- now going by Glinda -- make the trip to Emerald City, to meet the Wizard of Oz. However, thanks to a LoveDodecahedron involving Elphaba, Glinda, Fiyero, Nessarose, and a timid young munchkin man named Boq, things become a lot more complicated than they had counted on. And as the two girls find themselves sucked into the plot of ''The Wizard of Oz'', it becomes inevitable that one becomes Glinda the Good -- and the other, the Wicked Witch of the West.

*** The latter is a SanitySlippageSong about Elphaba finally giving up on trying to be good:

*** The former is an AngryMobSong about graphically hunting down and killing Elphaba:

-->'''Fiyero:''' ''[watching Elphaba dance]'' Well, I'll say this much for her. She doesn't give a twig what anyone else thinks.\\

-->'''Fiyero:''' ''[watching Elphaba dance]'' Well, I'll say this is good for her. She doesn't give a twig what anyone thinks.\\

** Also, when she casts the flight spell on the monkey, it grants him wings, but in an extremely painful manner.

** The performers at the Wizomania show are identical to the Hammerheads in Baum's original book, though here they appear to be caricatures of the Wizard himself.

TheMusical adaptation of [[Literature/{{Wicked}} Gregory Maguire's novel]], based on ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' and its 1939 Metro Goldwin Mayor [[Film/{{TheWizardOfOz}} film adaptation]].

* [[Disneyfication]]: The musical is much more kid friendly than its [[Literature/{{Wicked}} source novel]]. You can't have the heroine of a musical (at least, not a Creator/StephenSchwartz one) be a homicidal terrorist -- or [[spoiler: dying at the end]]. Gone are the heavy religious, political, moral, and sexual themes of the book.

TheMusical adaptation of [[Literature/{{Wicked}} Gregory Maguire's novel]], based on ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' and it's 1939 Metro Goldwin Mayor [[Film/{{TheWizardOfOz}} film adaptation]].

* Disneyfication: The musical is much more kid friendly than its [[Literature/{{Wicked}} source novel]]. You can't have the heroine of a musical (at least, not a Creator/StephenSchwartz one) be a homicidal terrorist -- or [[spoiler: dying at the end]]. Gone are the heavy religious, political, moral, and sexual themes of the book.

* DistantDuet: [[spoiler:Elphaba and Glinda's final reprise of "For Good" at the end.]]

-->'''Tin Man''': And this is more than just a service to the Wizard. I have a personal score to settle with El... with the Witch!

* OnceMoreWithClarity: An interesting example where the scene is already clearly important the first time the audience sees it, but becomes even ''more'' significant the second time. At the very beginning of the musical, Elphaba's mom cheats on her husband Frex, dancing with her lover as he encourages her to drink a "green elixir". This explains why Elphaba was subsequently born with green skin, and why Frex hates her (especially because he suspects she's not really his daughter). [[spoiler:At the very end of the play, we briefly see this moment again of the two of them dancing together after the Wizard sees the bottle of green elixir that Elphaba left behind when she "died", revealing that he was her mother's paramour as he remembers his affair with her and realizes that Elphaba was his daughter.]]

** Nessarose, but only after [[spoiler:Elphaba is declared the Wicked Witch. She has all of Munchkinland in ''slavery''.]]

* SinglePaletteTown: The Emerald City, carried over from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz.'' "It's all grand / And it's all green!" Stealth subversion? In the original ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' book, it's revealed that the Emerald City is actually built of all white stone and people wear green shades so it all looks green. Guess what the Emerald City residents are wearing on stage.

* TakeUpMySword: [[spoiler:Elphaba passes the Grimmerie on to Glinda, and begs her to do what she couldn't: change the world for the better. And she does.]]

* ThatThingIsNotMyChild: Elphaba's father undisguisedly loathes her with a passion and dotes on her younger sister Nessa merely because Elphaba is green. The moment she's born he screams [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "TAKE IT AWAY!"]] at the nurse before angrily storming off. Although, [[spoiler:he isn't Elphaba's real father anyway]].

* TokenMinority: The [[CivilizedAnimal Goat]] professor Doctor Dillamond is clearly this in-universe; it's even [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by him when he tells his class he's the "only Animal on the (Shiz University) faculty...the [[ConversationalTroping "token goat".]]

* TooImportantToWalk: Winkie Prince Fiyero makes his first entrance carted onto the stage in a rickshaw pulled by Avaric (and in the Broadway version, [[Literature/{{TheMarvelousLandOfOz}} the Saw-Horse]] as well).

-->'''[[spoiler:Elphaba]]''': [[spoiler:Fiyero]]?

** [[spoiler: Elphaba helps Doctor Dillamond escape in Act 2, followed by Fiyero and the guards entering. The scene continues and by the end on the show we never find out what became of Dillamond.]]

* WrittenByTheWinners: The wizard [[DiscussedTrope all but quotes this trope directly]] in "Wonderful", instead he says "Where I'm from we believe all sorts of things that aren't true... we call it history."

* AccidentalMisnaming: Galinda can't remember Boq's name, so she calls him "Bick."

** The show has a lot of this for itself. Watching it a second time can be a very different experience from watching it the first time. Mainly, "As Long As You're Mine", many of Fiyero's lines [[spoiler: about being brainless, since he turns into the Scarecrow]] and every interaction between [[spoiler: Elphaba and the Wizard, once it's revealed he's her father.]].

** The show has a lot of this for itself. Watching it a second time can be a very different experience from watching it the first time. Mainly, "No One Mourns the Wicked", many of Fiyero's lines [[spoiler: about being brainless, since he turns into the Scarecrow]] and every interaction between [[spoiler: Elphaba and the Wizard, once it's revealed he's her father.]].