Information on Wicked

I am creating a production presentation for a theatre class I am taking and my topic is Wicked. If you have any interesting information or links about the creation of this musical please post . Thank you.

Buy the Grimirie (Grimoire? whatever) if you don't already have it, it's filled with a heap of information.

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I know I can find information about the musical and cast bios and things of that nature. What I am really looking for are anything that has to do with how they chose the cast and what changed from the workshop to the final product. Also, does Wicked use any themes from any other of Schwartz musicals or Disney music. Like John Williams and Hans Zimmer use the same themes in a lot of their film scores. So, any information like that will help, and I will check out the Grimmerie.

They originally had the blue diamnod tattoos painted on Fiyero's chest and face like he has in the book, but decided they looked stupid on stage and got rid of them.

"No Good Deed" had a completely different verse in it.

Galinda's Popular dress was originally blue and they changed it to pink.

Dr. Dillamond was going to die like he does in the book and there was even a scene where he was paraded out in a coffin. The producers thought this was too depressing for the show they were trying to bring to the stage so they cut this pretty quickly. As far as I know, that didnt even make it out of rehearsals. It was never seen in previews, but if you take the BEC tour they show you the coffin they were planning on using.

The song "Making Good" was replaced with "The Wizard and I" - this was changed between the worksops and the previews.

That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Like everyone else has mentioned, grab a copy of the Grimmerie. It will help you out a lot.

Updated On: 3/3/07 at 09:21 AM

He is so sexy.

I did a paper relating to Wicked last week. Subscribe to the Schwartz Scene through musicalschwartz.com. There's plenty of info there. Also, one of the main differences between the original version of the show and the present production was the use of Dorothy and friends. She use to have a role in the muscial (as she does in the novel) but they couldn't use her becuse MGM owns the rights to the film.

Here's a site with clips of music from the SF run:

http://www.idina-here.com/sounds_theatre.php

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Yes, Stephanie was Schwartz's first choice for Elphaba and some of the music was written to compliment her voice.

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