The story of “Wicked” and the wicked witch of the west starts way before the musical and the book. The origin of the witch and “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is from a book by L. Frank Baum in 1900. In this version, she is not green; she wasn’t actually a big character who comes in twice then gets melted. “The Wizard of Oz” was turned into a musical and the “witch” was just a girl accused of being a witch. It became a silent film in 1910, and she again is shown twice then is melted. 

This is where the inspiration for “Wicked” came in 1995; Gregory Maguire writes the book “Wicked” and Winnie Holzman writes the screenplay for what is now the famous Broadway musical. 

The movie “Wicked” is loosely based on the Broadway rendition using all of the songs from the first act to tell the story of Elphaba and how she is forced into the title of Wicked Witch. The movie opens at the middle of the story with Elphaba  pronounced dead then moves to Munchkinland with the munchkins celebrating her death when Galinda the Good Witch comes to join them. 

All of a sudden, a munchkin asks, “Why does wickedness happen?”  We are then told the story of how her life started in her childhood. The movie then skips forward to when Elphaba and Galinda meet at school and, as the relationship transforms from loathing roommates to loving best friends, and Elphaba gets mixed into the title of Wicked Witch. 

The story is a heartfelt musical with action and comedy. It really had it all in terms of the plot. The attention to detail and hidden easter eggs show the love put into this movie. I am looking forward to watching “Wicked For Good”.