The Wizard of Oz in the context of "Wicked (Maguire novel)"

Wicked (known in full as Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz) is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is loosely adapted from Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which itself was based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. Set in the Land of Oz before and after Dorothy Gale's arrival from Kansas, the musical explores the complex relationship between Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland — the future Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good, respectively — as they are tested by their contrasting perspectives, shared love interest, and reactions to the Wizard's corrupt rule, culminating in Elphaba's tragic fall.

Produced by Universal Stage Productions with producers Marc Platt, Jon B. Platt and David Stone, director Joe Mantello and choreographer 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, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. Despite mixed reviews, the production won three Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award.

Mervyn LeRoy (/ləˈrɔɪ/; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. During the 1930s, he was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other being his colleague Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and They Won't Forget (1937). LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. He is best known for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Lyman Frank Baum (/bɔːm/; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.

Born and raised in Chittenango, New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio in Los Angeles, California.

Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer whose career spanned four decades. She is known for her artistic range and strong contralto voice, working in a variety of genres including musicals, comedies and dramas. Her career and personal life, marked by both public fascination and private struggle, made her a cultural icon and gay icon.

Garland began her career at the age of two: performing with her two older sisters as a vaudeville act called the Gumm Sisters. In 1935, aged 13, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and was initially cast in supporting roles in ensemble musicals such as Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937) and Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937). She achieved international recognition for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in the musical film The Wizard of Oz (1939). She followed this with leading roles in MGM musicals including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950). She expanded her range with dramatic performances in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), both of which earned her Academy Award nominations.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.

The book was first published in the United States in September 1900 by the George M. Hill Company. It had sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956. It was often reprinted under the title The Wizard of Oz, which is the title of the successful 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the 1939 live-action film.

Dorothy Gale is a character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. She is also the main character in various adaptations, notably the 1939 film adaptation of the novel, The Wizard of Oz.

In later novels, the Land of Oz steadily becomes more familiar to her than her homeland of Kansas. Dorothy eventually goes to live in an apartment in the Emerald City's palace but only after her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry have settled in a farmhouse on its outskirts. Dorothy's best friend Princess Ozma, ruler of Oz, officially makes her a princess of Oz later in the novels.

The Wicked Witch of the West is a character in the classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by the American author L. Frank Baum, who is the evil ruler of the Winkie Country, the western region in the Land of Oz. She is inadvertently killed by the child Dorothy Gale with a bucket of water. In Baum's subsequent Oz novels, the Wicked Witch of the West is referred to occasionally.

Margaret Hamilton played the role of the witch in the classic 1939 film based on Baum's novel. Hamilton's characterization introduced green skin, a feature repeated in later literary and dramatic representations, including Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel Wicked (as well as the novel's 2003 stage musical adaptation and subsequent two-part film adaptation), the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful, and the television series Once Upon a Time.

Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, better known as the "Wizard of Oz," is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He debuted in Baum's 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the 1939 MGM musical film.

In his first appearance in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Wizard rules the Land of Oz from his palace in the Emerald City. He is exposed at the end of the novel as a conman and circus magician, but in further books of the series, he becomes a trusted and valued friend to the Oz characters.