Wicked (theatre)



The Musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel, Wicked is the story of Elphaba, who will one day become the Wicked Witch of the West. Yes, that Wicked Witch.

Elphaba was born with green skin after her mother had an encounter with a traveling stranger. Her mother later dies giving birth to Elphaba's sister, Nessarose, who is wheelchair bound.

When Elphaba is older, she goes to school at Shiz, and is roomed with the pretty, popular Galinda. At first the two girls hate each other.

Suddenly, the shallow Prince Fiyero storms in and arranges a party. Galinda sets Nessa up with her Stalker with a Crush, Boq, and gives Elphaba her signature hat. When Elphaba gets ridiculed, Galinda takes pity on her and gives her a makeover. The two girls then become friends.

Things change, however, when Professor Dillamond, their Talking Animal teacher, is dismissed. Galinda changes her name to Glinda. Elphaba and Fiyero rescue a Lion cub brought in by his replacement, and a Love Triangle is formed. Then Elphaba is invited to the Emerald City, and her life changes forever. Events push the two friends along their paths towards becoming the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West.

"There are precious few at ease With moral ambiguities So we act as though they don't exist"
 * Abusive Parents: Elphaba's  father is emotionally abusive, due to favouring Nessarose over Elphaba.
 * Adaptation Distillation: Many people who didn't care for the book consider the musical this, as it takes the basics of the book and removes most of the Darker and Edgier stuff.
 * Affably Evil: The Wizard. He never once directly says a single harsh word to either Elphaba or Glinda. Some performances of "Wonderful" even have he and Elphaba share a dance before it all goes to hell.
 * All Musicals Are Adaptations
 * Alpha Bitch: Young Galinda, prior to befriending Elphaba. Once they bond, she becomes more of a Spoiled Sweet.
 * And There Was Much Rejoicing: The opening song of the musical, "No One Mourns the Wicked," where the citizens of Oz rejoice that the Wicked Witch of the West is finally dead. Of course the entire story that follows it is about how this is an entirely inappropriate response.
 * And I Must Scream: Dillamond's fear regarding the Animals in Oz, and.
 * Angry Mob Song: "March of the Witch Hunters"
 * Anti-Love Song: "What Is This Feeling" is a cheery tune sung by the two protagonists in which they profess their "unadulterated loathing" for each other.
 * Arc Words:
 * Replete with them. "I'm/We're/You're (un)limited" stands out. "You deserve each other" is also used quite frequently. Also, "a celebration throughout Oz / That's all to do with (me/you)".
 * The words "wicked" and "good" themselves.
 * Beautiful All Along: Elphaba, once she lets her hair down and takes off her glasses.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Madame Morrible, at least until the second act, where she just becomes a bitch.
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Black and White Morality: The Wizard points out that this moral system is the one most people prefer to believe when given the opportunity.

"Listen, Nessa - Uh, Nessa I've got something to confess A reason why, well, Why I asked you here tonight Now, I know it isn't fair..."
 * Book Ends: 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.
 * Brainless Beauty: Both Glinda and Fiyero start out as this, and retain some aspects of it even after a good bit of Character Development.
 * BSOD Song/Sanity Slippage Song: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Once Elphaba loses Fiyero, things start to snap...
 * Burn the Witch: "March of the Witch Hunters."
 * The Caligula: What Nessarose becomes after she inherits the position of Governess of Munchkin Land.
 * The Caretaker: Elphaba dutifully plays this role for her crippled sister during much of the first act. In fact, her father only allowed her to come to Shiz University so she could assist Nessarose.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl : Galinda is a toned down version. She did decide to get married to Fiyero on the day she met him and refused to give up on their broken relationship with a 'surprise' engagement. Nessa is a much more alarming version ...
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Dr. Dillamond seems to believe that the Animals losing their powers of speech is the logical conclusion of the government keeping Animals from speaking out.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: The Wizard's guards try to get Fiyero to give up Elphaba's location by taking him out to a field to be tortured. However, Elphaba tries to save him by  so it's unclear exactly how much/long Fiyero suffers from this attempt.
 * Counterpoint Duet: The latter half of "What Is This Feeling," though there's more than two voices involved. Also, the final chorus of "For Good", although it's the same melody, just sung at different times.
 * Crap Saccharine World: Oz, especially the Emerald City. The whimsical fantasy sets fail to distract from the fact that all talking animals and other segments of the population are being oppressed by a manipulative government. Compare "Something Bad" to "One Short Day".
 * Cut Song:
 * "MakingGood" was replaced in the final cut by "The Wizard and I" - a recording of it is included on the 5 year anniversary album. The original song in place of "Dancing Through Life" was called "Which Way's The Party" (lyrics also at the same link); that one has not been released in any official form.
 * The song "Wicked Witch of the East" is in the musical, but not in any of the sound tracks. This is because the lyrics are interspersed with a lot of dialog. Still, you can find videos of the song on youtube.
 * Dark Magical Girl: Elphaba.
 * Dark Reprise:
 * No One Mourns the Wicked and the finale.
 * "I'm Not That Girl" and "A Sentimental Man" with their respective reprises would also qualify.
 * A variant: The "I Hope You're Happy" passage at the beginning of "Defying Gravity" starts darkly, as Elphaba and Glinda are sniping at each other. When they sing it again toward the end of "Defying Gravity", it becomes a Sad Reprise, as the two friends genuinely wish each other happiness, no matter the roads they take in life.
 * In "Dancing Through Life" and "The Wicked Witch of the East", where Boq sings to Nessa. The first one is him trying to confess that he's only asked her out because he wants to impress Glinda. The reprise is when he tells her that he's leaving here, which makes her so mad she tries to remove his heart.


 * And then in "The Wicked Witch of the East":

"Nessa - Uh Nessa Surely now I'll matter less to you And you won't mind my leaving here tonight The ball that's being staged Announcing Glinda is engaged..."

"Congratulotions! Oh hallowed halls and vine-draped walls/the proudliest sight there is..."
 * Deadpan Snarker: Elphaba, especially as the story progresses.
 * Delusions of Eloquence: G(a)linda and Madame Morrible (and, to a lesser extent, most Ozians).

"Poor Galinda, forced to reside With someone so disgusticified"
 * Also, during "What is This Feeling"

"Let all Oz be agreed I'm wicked through and through Since I can not succeed Fiyero, saving you I promise no good deed Will I attempt to do again Ever again No good deed Will I do again!"
 * Department of Redundancy Department: "Something has changed within me, something is not the same."
 * Disney Death: But only in the musical. In the book,
 * Distant Duet:
 * Dramatic Irony:
 * "I'd be so happy I could melt" from "The Wizard and I."
 * Even more poignant, from the same song: "Someday there'll be a celebration throughout Oz that's all to do...with me!" There is, but it's celebrating her death.
 * "When people see me, they will scream ..."
 * There's also "Life is painless, for the brainless" a line sung by Fiyero- - in his introductory song "Dancing Through Life".
 * Subverted by Fiyero's incredulous, The audience thinks this is Dramatic Irony and that he's wrong, but at the end it turns out
 * Fiyero does this a lot: "Maybe I'm brainless, maybe I'm wise..."
 * Dropped A House On Her: Nessarose.
 * Dumb Blonde:
 * At first played straight with Glinda, but then downplayed significantly when she turns out to have Hidden Depths.
 * Discussed by Elphaba in "What Is This Feeling." While Galinda gives a lengthy explanation of why she hates Elphaba in her own letter home, Elphaba sums up her loathing for Galinda in one word: Blonde.
 * Dying Alone: Said as much in the opening ("And goodness knows, the wicked die alone...") about Elphaba.
 * Eating Lunch Alone: Also discussed. Elphaba offers to share her lunch with her teacher, Dr. Dillamond, ostracized for being a Goat. She eats her sandwich; he eats the paper bag it came in.
 * Emergency Transformation:
 * Turns
 * And
 * Fake Weakness: Fiyero propagates the idea that.
 * Fashionable Asymmetry: The guiding principle for the costumes of the ensemble in the musical production, which eventually won a Tony Award in this department.
 * Green Skinned Oz Beautiful All Along: Elphaba
 * Hair Flip: "And this is how you toss your hair" * Toss* * Toss*
 * Ham-to-Ham Combat: Glinda vs. Elphaba in Munchkinland
 * Heel Realization: Galinda gives Elphaba the trademark black hat and invites her to the Ozdust Ballroom with the gang because she thought she couldn't "think of anyone I hate that much" to foist it on them (to which some girls respond "Yes, you do!") But when Elphaba arrives and gets ridiculed as expected, Galinda realizes how awful she's been and stops the laughing by going up and dancing with her. They evolve into friends after that.
 * Heroic BSOD: "All right, enough! So be it!...so be it then." Elphaba loses it after . In the musical, we have the No Good Deed Goes Unpunished song; in the book, she turns mute and enters a nunnery for some years.
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: All Elphaba wanted to do was help save the animals. But by the end of the musical, she's considered a Complete Monster by most Ozians and has come to be known by them as the "Wicked Witch of the West" depicted in The Wizard of Oz.
 * Hollywood Nerd: Even green skin paint can't make Idina Menzel look bad. Or most of the other Elphabas. Of course, that's actually the point - people within the story ignore her beauty and focus on the green.
 * "I Am Becoming" Song:
 * Defying Gravity. Also an I Am What I Am song, as she finally embraces her true nature as a witch.
 * "No Good Deed" is this as well as a Sanity Slippage Song, and a Villain Song, as it is Elphaba's Villainous Breakdown becuase she believes.
 * "I Am" Song: "Popular" and later  for G(a)linda, "Dancing Through Life" for Fiyero (before his Character Development), and "I'm Not That Girl" for Elphaba before   Promoted to Love Interest.
 * If I Can't Have You: Nessarose decides that if Boq won't give her his heart, he might as well not have a heart to give, and (improperly) reads a spell from the Grimmerie to do just that.
 * In Name Only: The extent of the changes to the musical are such that it is this to the book.
 * Ironic Echo:
 * "I hope you prove me wrong! I doubt you will!"
 * Also, "Everyone deserves a chance to fly!"
 * "You deserve each other!" used maaany times:
 * Used by Galinda in Dancing Through Life as she
 * Also used by
 * Nessa also uses this in Dancing through Life when she tells her about her feelings for Boq: Elphaba see?/We deserve each other.
 * "I Want" Song: "The Wizard and I"
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Fiyero tries to remain aloof and entirely self centered and succeeds for a little while, but ultimately when the chips are down he fails.
 * Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Elphaba's personal Villain Song, literally called No Good Deed plays this very straight

"And helping you with your ascent al-"
 * Karma Houdini Warranty: The moment the Wizard feels remorse for, Glinda
 * Large Ham: Every Glinda seems to be required to try and top the previous actress in zaniness. Kristin Chenoweth was goofy, but relatively downplayed compared to, say, Natalie Daradich's. Kendra Kessenbaum turns "Popular" into borderline acrobatics at some points.
 * Lighter and Softer: Justified because you could never get away with putting many of the book's events in a Broadway musical, yet these events are also important enough to the plot that omitting them would cause Adaptation-Induced Plothole. This has the unfortunate consequence of making adults think the book is for kids, too.
 * Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My!: Most of the Animals in Oz interact with the human Ozians in a fairly normal way. That is, until the plot progresses and the Animals are rounded up and  due to Fantastic Racism and Malicious Slander.
 * Lovable Alpha Bitch: Galinda/Glinda, after a dose of character development
 * Love Dodecahedron: Minor example. But still, arrange the diagram just right, and it comes out looking like a W.
 * Love Makes You Evil: Nessarose.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father Somewhat inverted,
 * Magic A Is Magic A: 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.
 * Magical Gesture: Madame Morrible's weather magic appears to operate via these
 * Magical Incantation: The spells of the Grimmerie.
 * Magic Misfire:
 * When Nessa tries to cast a love spell, or something like it, on the object of her affections... But unfortunately, she absolutely mangles the pronunciation. It certainly changed his heart alright, and almost killed him!
 * Elphaba does this in No Good Deed when
 * The Makeover: Glinda tries to give Elphaba one in "Popular", with mixed results.
 * Malicious Slander: Both Elphaba and the Animals becomes victim to this thanks to the Wizard's Propaganda Machine.
 * Midword Rhyme: In "A Sentimental Man":

- lows me to feel so parental

"Nessa: What's in the punch? Boq: Lemons and melons and pears-- Nessa: Oh my!"
 * Mood Whiplash:
 * The beginning of Act II. The people are singing about the terror spread by the Wicked Witch... and then Glinda distracts them with news of her (very public) engagement. It's a stellar propaganda job.
 * The entire  scene constantly bounds between hilarious and heartbreaking.
 * The Musical Musical: When Glinda and Elphaba visit the Emerald City in "One Short Day", they go to watch (and somewhat participate in) Wizomania.
 * Mythology Gag:
 * Not within the show itself, but several to The Wizard of Oz.

"Nessa: What are you doing here? Elphaba: Well ... there's no place like home."
 * Another notable: Elphaba pays Nessa a visit.

"A man's called a traitor Or liberator A rich man's a thief or philanthropist Is one a crusader Or ruthless invader? It's all in which label Is able to persist"
 * Stephen Schwartz has stated that the whole joy of the show is these nods that allow us to see how the Oz we know and love came to be. Hence in Act 1, Elphaba gradually acquires her famous witch's outfit; and in Act 2,
 * 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".
 * 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.
 * Another nod to the original Baum novels: during "One Short Day", at one point, a street peddler gives Elphaba and Glinda glasses with green tinted lenses, which they wear briefly during the remainder of the number. In Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wizard made everyone in the Emerald City(which wasn't actually all that green) wear green-tinted glasses so that everything would appear to be green.
 * In Act 2, when the Wizard agrees to free the winged monkeys from his servitude, Elphaba gleefully shouts, "Fly, monkeys, fly!"
 * The absolutely idiotic idea that a person would melt if splashed with water. They use the joke a few times. Good thing, too.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: This is an ongoing feature of Elphaba's life story. So much so that the Villain Song accompanying her Heroic BSOD is literally called "No Good Deed."
 * No Sense of Direction: By her own admission, Glinda.
 * Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: The Wicked Witch of the West was pretty damn misunderstood.
 * Pair the Spares: Galinda attempts to do this, with disastrous results.
 * Perfectly Cromulent Word: Madam Morrible is fond of these.
 * Politically-Motivated Teacher: Professor Dillamond is extremely passionate about his beliefs about the prejudice against talking animals in the school system and his fears about what is happening to them,.
 * Promoted to Love Interest: Fiyero for Glinda, Boq for Nessarose. Jarring considering in the books none of these characters seemed to even speak to each other that often if at all.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation: Some fans are of the opinion that a direct translation of the book to the stage wouldn't have done nearly as well as the Lighter and Softer version.
 * Propaganda Machine: First used by the Wizard and his Mooks against the animals of Oz to convince the human citizens that the animals were causing trouble and were better kept caged up, where they would lose the ability to speak. Later used by both the Wizard and  in a smear campaign against Elphaba.
 * Prophecy Twist:
 * In-story, anyway. Elphaba sees that everyone in Oz will have a celebration "that's all to do...with me!" Of course, everyone celebrates that the Wicked Witch is gone.
 * 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.
 * "Life's more painless/For the brainless."
 * Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Nessarose, for Boq. Resulting in an If I Can't Have You that ends...well...strangely.
 * Recursive Adaptation: If the rumored film adaptation of the Wicked musical develops, it will be a movie based on a musical based on a novel based on a movie based on a play based on a novel. At a minimum.
 * Rich Bitch: Nessarose. Galinda, prior to Character Development.
 * The Scapegoat: The Animals in Oz. Dr. Dillamond (who is literally a goat) even points this out to Elphaba.
 * Shallow Love Interest: Subverted with Fiyero, who claims to be shallow, but, as Elphaba points out, is a lot deeper than he pretends.
 * She Who Must Not Be Seen: Dorothy, who is only present offstage twice and in silhouette once. Also the Cowardly Lion, the only part of whom we see is his tail. According to the companion book The Grimerrie, 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.
 * Shout-Out: The stage is framed by a massive clockwork set, topped by a red-eyed animatronic dragon head that occasionally comes to life and writhes back and forth during important/dramatic moments. The popular theory is that this represents the Time Dragon Clock from the book.
 * Single Palette Town: The Emerald City, carried over from The Wizard of Oz. "It's all grand / And it's all green!" Stealth subversion? In the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 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.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Not nearly as cynical as the book.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: Slight variation in that the soundtrack is dissonant with the lyrics and subject matter. What is This Feeling? is a happy, bouncy, upbeat song all about how much Galinda and Elphaba hate each other. "Loathing! Unadulterated loathing! For your face; your voice; your clothing! Let's just say I loathe it all."
 * Spoiled Sweet: What Glinda turns out to be.
 * Start of Darkness: For the Wicked Witch of the West
 * Steampunk: The set design, with its rusty gears and cast-iron trusses.
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge: Nessarose, Dr. Dillamond (left alive but mutated), and Fiyero
 * Take That: Some of the lyrics in Popular are: "When I see depressing creatures with unprepossessing features/I remind them on their own behalf/to think of celebrated heads of state or specially great communicators/Did they have brains or knowledge? Don't make me laugh!" Ronald Reagan was known as The Great Communicator.
 * The Movie: In development.
 * Title Drop: Far, far too often.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Elphaba and Glinda
 * Torches and Pitchforks: During "March of the Witch Hunters", of course.
 * Transformation Trauma:
 * The way it's played once he realizes what he's been turned into is not too far from how Elizabeth reacts to awakening as a monster in the 1994 version of Frankenstein, minus the suicide.
 * Chistery and the other monkeys growing wings looked pretty painful as well.
 * The Unfavorite: The only reason Elphaba was brought to Shiz in the musical was so that she can care for Nessarose.
 * Villain Song: "Wonderful" for, and "No Good Deed" for Elphaba. Also, not on the soundtrack . As detailed on the trope page, none of them are straight examples.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: The Wizard is adored by the citizens of Oz despite his role in the oppression of the perfectly innocent Animals and the lies he spread about himself and Elphaba.
 * We Can Rule Together: The point of "Wonderful". Bonus points for quoting the "I Want" Song.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Unlike his Complete Monster book counterpart, the Wizard means well here, but is something of a bumbling oaf (albeit very accustomed to show business), easily manipulated by Madame Morrible.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: the whole musical is a flashback, from Glinda's POV, to her and Elphaba's relationship.
 * Wicked Witch: While Elphaba has all the trappings of it, the best literal example of the trope is Madame Morrible.
 * Nessarose is also shown to be deserving of her title "The Wicked Witch of the East."
 * Wizarding School: To some extent, Shiz University-although sorcery is only one of the many subjects Shiz University students can pursue.
 * Word of Gay: Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel have said that they believe if things had gone differently, Galinda and Elphaba would've eventually fallen in love. The same was said by some other cast members and Maguire.
 * Written by the Winners: The wizard 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."