Wicked

- the Wicked Witch of the West

It's odd ... tonight The Wizard of Oz is showing on tv (TBS), and today a friend recommended I see a musical - Wicked. Adapted from a novel by Gregory Maguire, titled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, it gives a revisionist view of the Witches of the Land of Oz. Here's what Wikipedia says of the plot ...

The story is written as a prelude to L. Frank Baum's classic book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and is heavily influenced by the iconic 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz. Set in the days prior to Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, Wicked explores the idea that the infamous antagonist we call the Wicked Witch of the West was misconstrued and victimized. Her alleged wickedness was merely retaliation against a charlatan wizard’s corrupt government. At Shiz University, the intelligent green-skinned teenager, Elphaba Thropp, meets beautiful and ambitious Galinda Upland (who changes her name to Glinda during the course of the play and later becomes Glinda the Good) when the two become roommates. Their lives intertwine, and, throughout the show, their friendship struggles to endure extreme personality differences, opposing viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, and of course, Elphaba’s eventual tragic fall from grace ...

I have to admit, my memories of the Wicked Witch (from the movie) are sketchy ... she had flying monkey minions and ended her life with the words, "I'm melting!"on her lips ... but the musical sounds interesting :-)