History Trivia / WICKED

** The song "Wicked Witch of the East" is in the musical, but not in any of the sound tracks. This is because the lyrics are interspersed with a lot of dialog, and because it contains spoilers that were not yet common knowledge when the cast recording was released in 2003. Still, you can find videos of the song on Website/YouTube.

** Original Elphaba Creator/IdinaMenzel suffered an accident during her third-to-last performance on January 8, 2005, when the trapdoor for the melting scene partially descended without her, causing her to misstep and break her ribs. She did, however, make a surprise appearance at the curtain call for what would have been her final performance.

** Mark Curry, the 10th Anniversary London Wizard, returned to the role in late 2022. Five months later, he was joined by Alexia Khamide, who originally played Elphaba from 2008-2009 and was also the first black British actress to play Elphaba.

** At another point in the show's development, Doctor Dillamond wasn't SparedByTheAdaptation, but simply [[DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation died differently]], committing offstage [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] by jumping off a bridge after he was fired from Shiz. In this version, Galinda changed her name to Glinda not just in solidarity with him, but to honor his memory.

For the books see [[Trivia/TheWickedYears here]].

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to ''The Wizard of Oz''. However, the musical was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] or [[Creator/WarnerBros. Warner Bros.]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only ones of these that survived were the "lemons and melons and pears" bit and the "no place like home" gag.

** Stephanie J Block, who was the original Elphaba on the First National Tour, injured herself during the dress rehearsal where Elphaba flies in on a wire and broke ribs. This forced the production to push back previews and had then Broadway principal Kristy Cates open the production for the first few weeks of performances.
* RoleReprise: Quite a rare occurrence with ''Wicked''.

** Stephanie J Bock played Elphaba in the workshop production of the musical before Idina Menzel joined the cast. Block returned to the role for the 1st National Tour.

* RecursiveAdaptation: The upcoming film adaptation will be a movie based on a [[{{Theatre/Wicked}} musical]] [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations based]] on a [[{{Literature/Wicked}} novel]] [[TwiceToldTale based]] on a [[{{Film/TheWizardOfOz}} movie]] based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1902_musical) play]] based on a [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz novel]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_The_Wizard_of_Oz At minimum]].

** The play was originally scripted to end with a scene with Elphaba having taken with refuge with the animals and trying to help Doctor Dillamond, but being unable to. Though Schwartz liked the scene, it was chopped because it was felt the play was suffering from too many endings.

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to ''The Wizard of Oz''. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only ones of these that survived were the "lemons and melons and pears" bit and the "no place like home" gag.

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to the ''The Wizard of Oz'' movie. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only ones of these that survived were the "lemons and melons and pears" bit and the "no place like home" gag.
* WordOfGay: Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel have said that they believe if things had gone differently, Galinda and Elphaba could have fallen in love. The same was said by some other cast members and [[WordOfGod Gregory Maguire]].

** [[http://www.theatre-musical.com/wicked/cutlyrics.html "Making Good"]] was replaced in the final cut by "The Wizard and I" - a recording of it is included on the 5 year anniversary album. The original song in place of "Dancing Through Life" was called "Which Way's The Party" (lyrics also at the same link); that one has not been released in any official form (however, both the sheet music and a soundboard recording of the tryout performance have since been leaked).

** Original Elphaba Creator/IdinaMenzel suffered an accident during her second-to-last performance on January 8, 2005, when the trapdoor for the melting scene partially descended without her, causing her to misstep and break her ribs. She did, however, make a surprise appearance at the curtain call for what would have been her final performance.

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to the ''The Wizard of Oz'' movie. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only ones of these that survived were the "lemons and melons and pears" bit. Barring the "no place like home" gag.

** Stephanie Block, who read the part of Elphaba in the workshop staging of Wicked, originated the role on the first North America Tour.

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to the ''The Wizard of Oz'' movie. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only ones of these that survived were the "lemons and melons and pears" bit and the "no place like home" gag.
** Stephanie J Bock played Elphaba in the workshop production of the musical before Idina Menzel joined the cast. Stephanie returned to the role for the 1st National Tour.

* OnSetInjury: Original Elphaba Creator/IdinaMenzel suffered an accident during her second-to-last performance on January 8, 2005, when the trapdoor for the melting scene partially descended without her, causing her to misstep and break her ribs. She did, however, make a surprise appearance at the curtain call for what would have been her final performance.

* WordOfGay: Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel have said that they believe if things had gone differently, Galinda and Elphaba could have fallen in love. The same was said by some other cast members and [[WordOfGod Maguire]].

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to the ''The Wizard of Oz'' movie. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything blatant. About the only one of these that survived was the "lemons and melons and pears" bit.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://wicked.wikia.com/wiki/Wicked_Wiki The Wicked Wiki]].

* ConstructiveCriticism: The play had a test run in San Francisco a few months before the Broadway debut. The [[WordOfGod producer said]] that while he felt the New York critics had made up their mind about the play already, the San Francisco critics instead gave advice that helped the play grow to its current form (such as giving Elphaba a stronger role).

* DevelopmentHell: A movie adaptation of the musical has been in various stages of development since shortly after the musical debuted. At one point it was scheduled for 2019 only to be delayed until 2021 in favor of ''Film/{{Cats}}''. Then in early 2020 the [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]] lead to it being delayed indefinitely so ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}} 2'' could take the 2021 date. As of November 2021 the project finally appears to have started moving forward as Creator/CynthiaErivo and Music/ArianaGrande were cast as, respectively, Elphaba and Glinda.

* RecursiveAdaptation: If the rumored [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(Maguire_novel)#Adaptations film]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook adaptation]] of the ''Wicked'' musical develops, it will be a movie based on a [[{{Theatre/Wicked}} musical]] [[AllMusicalsAreAdaptations based]] on a [[{{Literature/Wicked}} novel]] [[TwiceToldTale based]] on a [[{{Film/TheWizardOfOz}} movie]] based on a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1902_musical) play]] based on a [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz novel]]. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_The_Wizard_of_Oz At minimum]].

** There were originally many more direct references in the script to the ''The Wizard of Oz'' movie. However, the play was financially supported by [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Stage Productions]], not [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], so the lawyers put the kibosh on pretty much everything very blatant. About the only one of these that survived was the "lemons and melons and pears" bit.