Wicked in Broadway

Wicked is a broadway musical, with songs and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman. The story is based on the novel.
The plot of the first act is set before Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, and include several references to The Wizard of Oz.

The musical premiered at San Francisco's Curran Theatre in May 2003. In October, 2003, the show moved to Broadway's Theatre. It was produced by Universal Pictures and Directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. It's original stars were Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Joel Grey as the wizard.

The Broadway production's success spawned productions in Chicago, Los Angeles, London's West End, Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney, Stuttgart, and San Francisco, as well as two North American tours that have visited over 30 cities in Canada and the United States.

Wicked has broken box office records around the world, holding weekly-gross-takings records in New-York, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, and London, and the record for biggest opening in the West End. The show was also nominated for 2004 Tony Awards, including Best Actress, Scenic Design and Costume Design. It also won six Drama Desk Awards out of eleven nominations and at the 2010 Olivier Awards, Wicked won the Audience Award for Most Popular Show.

With a $14 million capitalization, the Broadway production earned back it's initial investment by December 21, 2004. In it's first year, it grossed more than $56 million.

For the week ending November 29, 2009 Wicked became the first Broadway show in history to gross over $2 millin for one week of performances, with a gross of$2,086,135.