15 WickedCool Pop Culture Facts About 'Wicked' Brian VanHookerNovember 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM 0 With the release of Wicked: For Good, many people are revisiting the first movie to freshen up. But, before you do that, you know what everyone really loves? When you interrupt a movie multiple times by sharing behindthescenes facts about it. So, to dazzle — and totally not annoy — your friends on your Wicked rewatch, here are 15 trivia tidbits about the first Wicked. 15 'Wicked' on Broadway The full title of the original Wicked Broadway musical is Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz.
- - 15 Wicked-Cool Pop Culture Facts About 'Wicked'
Brian VanHookerNovember 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM
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With the release of Wicked: For Good, many people are revisiting the first movie to freshen up. But, before you do that, you know what everyone really loves? When you interrupt a movie multiple times by sharing behind-the-scenes facts about it. So, to dazzle — and totally not annoy — your friends on your Wicked rewatch, here are 15 trivia tidbits about the first Wicked.
15 'Wicked' on Broadway
The full title of the original Wicked Broadway musical is Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. The play's music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz. It premiered on May 28, 2003.
14 Before the Musical
The play is loosely based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Both the play and this novel, of course, draw inspiration from the 1939 musical The Wizard of Oz and the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum.
13 The Unlikely Origin
Maguire said he was inspired to write the novel Wicked during the first Gulf War when he saw a newspaper headline comparing Saddam Hussein to Hitler. That motivated him to write a story about the nature of evil, which eventually led him to a story about the witches of Oz.
12 The Movie that Wasn't
According to Vanity Fair, before the musical, an adaptation of Maguire's novel began as a film with Demi Moore in the lead and Bob Zemeckis as director.
11 Whoopi Meets the Wizard?
Aside from Moore, several other actors expressed interest in playing Elphaba in this unrealized version, including Whoopi Goldberg, Claire Danes, Salma Hayek and Laurie Metcalf. Producer Suzanne Todd also pictured Michelle Pfeiffer, Emma Thompson and Nicole Kidman as possible leads.
10 The Musical's Origin
Separate from all the work in Hollywood on a Wicked adaptation, Broadway hitmaker Stephen Schwartz first heard about the book from his friend, singer Holly Near, who was reading it while the two were on vacation together. "I immediately had this epiphany that that was a great idea for a musical," Schwartz told Vanity Fair.
9 The Musical, Then the Movie
In time, Schwartz convinced Hollywood producer Marc Platt (who held the rights) to allow him to adapt Wicked into a stage musical first, with the prospect of a film somewhere down the line. Schwartz and writer Winnie Holzman continued tinkering, which gave Glinda the Good Witch a bigger role.
8 Why 'Wicked' Became a Musical
As explained in Vanity Fair, part of the reason why Wicked worked as a musical adaptation is that the novel was a first-person story that shared Elphaba's innermost thoughts and feelings. Non-musical movies struggle with that aspect storytelling, usually relying on voiceover. Musicals, however, allow the characters to sing their feelings, making their characters thoughts and motivations clear to the audience.
7 Before Erivo and Grande
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth were the first actors to play Elphaba and Glinda in the stage musical. The two would later make cameos in the 2024 film.
6 The Long Yellow Brick Road
One of the reasons why it took more than two decades for a film adaptation to follow the debut of the play is that box office sales for plays usually take a significant dip after there's a film version available.
5 One Play = Two Movies
Early on it was decided that, to properly adapt the stage musical, it would take two films instead of just one. As Schwartz told Collider, "We ultimately decided to do two movies because we couldn't get it all crammed into one movie without, we felt, really compromising the story. We thought no one wanted to sit for four hours and see one movie, so it got divided into two movies."
4 Two Movies = One Production
Both films were shot simultaneously by director Jon M. Chu, who switched back and forth between Wicked and Wicked: For Good throughout production.
3 Live from Oz, it's Saturday Night
Originally, Bowen Yang wasn't going to appear in Wicked due to his Saturday Night Live schedule, but Ariana Grande called Lorne Michaels and convinced him to allow Yang to do the movie.
2 A Wicked Misprint
In November 2024, Wicked dolls were pulled from toy shelves because they listed an adult site on the packaging.
1 Defying Gravity
Wicked is the highest-grossing film based on a Broadway musical.
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Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 24, 2025 at 01:36AM on Source: MARIO MAG
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