Wicked is based on the characters originally created in Frank L Baum’s book and popularised by the later film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. But Wicked does not directly descend from this book.
The story comes from Authory Gregory Maguire in the form of his reimagining of the key characters of Oz – Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West), Galinda (Galinda The Good) and Nessarose (Wicked Witch of the East).
This new story was made into the book that later became Wicked The Musical – Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The story tells of how Elphaba, Nessarose and Galinda became the characters they become in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and allows the reader to actually sympathise with the characters as oppose to simply hating them.
Although described by Gregory Maguire as not a prequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz it does certainly feel like one with a tiny overlap with the beginnning of the original book at the end.
The Sequel to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is Son of a Witch which quite litterally picks up where Wicked leaves off. This is the story of a young boy named Lyar who may or may not be Elphaba’s son.
Released at the end of last year was the third Wicked book again by Gregory Maguire – A Lion Among Men. This is the story of the Lion that Elphaba rescued whilst at Schiz University.
These books have become collectively known as The Wicked Years Series and are certainly books to read to get to know the characters in Wicked and to find out what they did after the first Wicked book and the musical itself – in short well worth a read!
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