Source Map: What the Wicked Musical Took, From Where
A scene-by-scene, character-by-character breakdown. The musical is a synthesis of three layers of source material: Baum's books (1900–1920), the 1939 MGM film, and Maguire's Wicked Years (1995–2011). The tables below trace each major element of the show back to its source.
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Character Source Map
| Wicked character | From Baum | From 1939 film | From Maguire | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elphaba | The Wicked Witch of the West (Book 1, 1900): green skin, broom, ruby slippers, killed by water, "wicked" label | Margaret Hamilton's Witch: green skin, cackle, flying monkeys, ruby slippers, "I'll get you, my pretty!" | Maguire's 1995 Elphaba: name, green skin at birth, daughter of Frexspar, governor's daughter, political education at Shiz, religious sensibility, complicated love life, survives at the end | — |
| Glinda | Good Witch of the South (Book 1, 1900): a kind figure who helps Dorothy at the end. Political operator in Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and Glinda of Oz (1920) | Billie Burke's Glinda: Good Witch of the North, bubble, gentle, slightly silly, swooshing with her wand, "You had the power all along, my dear" | Maguire's Galinda: pink, popular, socialite, ambitious, spells her name differently, sharp at the edges | The musical merges the 1939 North Glinda with Baum's South Glinda, and renames her "Glinda" (a 1939-fication of Galinda) |
| Fiyero | — (no equivalent in the books) | — (no equivalent in the film) | Maguire's Fiyero: prince of the Arjiki people, turns to activism, becomes the Scarecrow figure | Invented by Maguire; not in the original Baum canon. The "Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow" idea is from Son of a Witch (2005) |
| Boq | — (no equivalent) | — (no equivalent) | Maguire's Boq: Munchkinlander, loves Galinda, becomes the Tin Woodman in the source novel (in the musical this is reduced to a brief reference) | Invented by Maguire. The musical references the Tin Woodman identity but does not literally transform Boq |
| Nessarose | — (no equivalent) | — (no equivalent) | Maguire's Nessarose: Elphaba's paraplegic sister, governor of Munchkinland, religious, dies when a house falls on her | The "house falls on her" detail is from the 1900 book (Dorothy's house falls on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her) — Maguire reassigns the death from a Witch to Nessarose, and the musical follows suit |
| Doctor Dillamond | — (Baum's Oz is full of talking animals, but no individual animal professor is featured as a major character) | — (the film barely features animals, and has no goat professor) | Maguire's Doctor Dillamond: a goat, the only animal professor at Shiz, victim of the Wizard's anti-animal conspiracy | The animal-suppression theme is Maguire's invention; see the Themes page. The character of the "first animal silenced" is from Maguire |
| Madame Morrible | — (no equivalent; the Wizard is the only authority figure at the Emerald City in the books) | Miss Gulch / Almira Gulch: a Kansas neighbor who is a possible foreshadowing of the Witch, but is not in Oz at all | Maguire's Madame Morrible: a fortune-teller and political operator at the Wizard's court, complicit in the propaganda | Invented by Maguire. In the source novel, Morrible dies; the musical changes this to imprisonment |
| The Wizard | The Wizard of Oz (Book 1, 1900): a humbug balloonist from Omaha, the operator behind the curtain | Frank Morgan's Wizard: kindly, gentle, supportive of Dorothy, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" | Maguire's Wizard: a political operator, animal suppressor, propagandist, with a complicated backstory as Animal-Husband Number Four | The musical synthesizes: the kindly tone of the 1939 film for the early Wizard, and Maguire's political edge for the later |
| Pfannee & Shen Shen | — (no equivalent) | — (no equivalent) | Maguire's two popular girls at Shiz, Galinda's friends, sharp and shallow | Invented by Maguire for Wicked |
| Dorothy | Dorothy Gale (Book 1, 1900): a small Kansas farm girl | Judy Garland's Dorothy: older, more wistful, given songs, the framing character | Dorothy barely appears in Wicked; she is the Kansas girl whose house kills Nessarose | The musical references Dorothy's arrival but she does not appear as a character |
Scene and Element Source Map
| Element in the musical | Source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Two witches, one good and one bad | Baum 1900 (Book 1) + 1939 film | Baum had four witches (Good North, Good South, Bad East, Bad West). The 1939 film reduced this to one Good (North, Glinda) and one Bad (West). The musical follows the film. |
| Green skin from birth (from her mother's affair) | Maguire 1995 | Baum does not explain why the Witch is green; the 1939 film explains it even less. The "green from birth, mother's infidelity" origin is Maguire's invention. |
| Silver shoes → Ruby slippers | Baum 1900 = silver; 1939 film = ruby (changed for Technicolor contrast) | Musical uses ruby slippers (from the film), but gives them to Nessarose instead of Dorothy. |
| Shiz University | Maguire 1995 | Not in Baum. The whole Shiz setting is Maguire's invention. |
| Animal suppression (Doctor Dillamond's plot) | Maguire 1995 | Baum's Oz is full of talking animals, full stop. Maguire asked: what if they were losing this? The musical keeps the question and the answer. |
| The Wizard as fraud / "Wonderful" | Baum 1900 + Maguire 1995 | The "humbug" Wizard is the central joke of the 1900 book. The 1939 film softens this. The musical returns to the book's edge with Maguire's political overlay. |
| "Defying Gravity" / flying | 1939 film (Witch's broom flight) + Maguire (Elphaba's "wizardry") | In the books, the Witch can fly because of the broom; in the film, the Witch is briefly seen flying. The musical's "Defying Gravity" is the song that makes flight the climax of Act I. |
| Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow | Maguire 2005 (Son of a Witch) | In the 1900 book, the Scarecrow is a separate character. In the Maguire sequel, Liir finds a Scarecrow figure that is implied to be Fiyero. The musical keeps the implication and adds a stage moment with the Scarecrow figure. |
| Boq becomes the Tin Woodman | Maguire 1995 | In the 1900 book, the Tin Woodman is a separate character. In Maguire, Boq is transformed into a tin figure. The musical references this but does not literally transform Boq on stage. |
| Dorothy's house killing Nessarose | Baum 1900 (kills the Witch of the East) + Maguire 1995 (kills Nessarose instead) | The "house falls on the witch" is from the 1900 book, but Baum's victim is the Wicked Witch of the East. Maguire reassigns the death to Nessarose; the musical follows suit. |
| Elphaba melts with water | Baum 1900 (Witch of the West dies this way) + 1939 film (the film's most famous image) | Direct from the source. The musical references the "melting" — Elphaba fakes her death, but the image comes from the book and the film. |
| The yellow brick road | Baum 1900 (Book 1) + 1939 film | The road appears in the book as a 2-brick-wide path through the eastern part of Oz. The 1939 film and the musical use it as a central visual icon. |
| Glinda's bubble | 1939 film | Glinda travels in a soap bubble in the 1939 film. The musical keeps the bubble and uses it as a scenic device for Glinda's entrances and exits. |
| The Tornado | Baum 1900 (a cyclone) + 1939 film (the famous tornado sequence) | The musical does not depict the tornado but references it as the moment Dorothy arrives. |
| The Grimmerie | Maguire 1995 | The book of spells Elphaba uses to defy gravity. Invented by Maguire; adopted by the musical as a principal scenic element. |
| Elphaba's castle at Kiamo Ko | Maguire 1995 (name) + Baum 1910 (location in the Winkie country) | Baum has the Witch's castle in the Winkie country. Maguire names it Kiamo Ko. The musical keeps the name and the idea of the castle as Elphaba's lair. |
| The Impassable Desert | Baum 1910 (Book 6) + Maguire 1995 (the desert is the sealed-off boundary of Oz) | Baum has Glinda raise an Impassable Desert around Oz in The Emerald City of Oz. Maguire uses it as the physical boundary that protects Oz. The musical references it as the landscape around Kiamo Ko. |
What the Musical Drops
Some elements of the source material are not used by the musical at all, and it is worth knowing they exist if you read the books:
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Book 7) — the entire patchwork-body metaphor, the book that is most explicitly referenced in the Wicked aesthetic, is not dramatized in the musical. The patchwork quality of Elphaba is a visual cue, not a plot point.
- The Nome King and the underground tunnels — the source material for Kiamo Ko's underground setting is never dramatized. We see Elphaba above ground in the castle.
- The Quadling, Gillikin, and Winkie countries — the four-province geography of Oz is collapsed in the musical to a single unspecified "Oz."
- The Cowardly Lion's later life as king of the beasts — from The Emerald City of Oz (1910). The musical's Cowardly Lion, when he appears, is still the same figure from the 1900 book.
- The Tin Woodman's full backstory in The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) — Nimmie Amee, the second tin man (Captain Fyter), the witch's enchanted axe, and the progressive dismemberment are all in the source for the Boq arc but the musical does not dramatize them in detail.
- The Cowardly Lion as Brrr in A Lion Among Men (2008) — Maguire's later novel re-introduces the Lion as an old figure. The musical references the Lion only in passing.
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Reading Order
For someone who wants to read the source material in the order that is most useful for understanding the Wicked musical, the recommended reading order is:
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) — the foundation. Read this first. Almost everything comes from here.
- The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) — Glinda as political operator, the Scarecrow as king.
- The Emerald City of Oz (1910) — the Impassable Desert, the Nome King, the underground.
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913) — referenced in the musical aesthetic.
- The Scarecrow of Oz (1915) — referenced in the musical aesthetic.
- The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) — the source for the Boq arc and the loss-of-limb metaphor.
- Glinda of Oz (1920) — Glinda as the central political figure, the late-Baum version.
- Watch the 1939 MGM film — the visual iconography of the musical comes mostly from here. The film is available on physical media and streaming services.
- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Maguire, 1995) — the immediate source for the musical.
- Son of a Witch (Maguire, 2005), A Lion Among Men (Maguire, 2008), and Out of Oz (Maguire, 2011) — the rest of the Wicked Years. Not required to understand the musical, but valuable for the post-musical sequels and the political edge of Maguire.
For the Wicked musical's plot, characters, and locations as the show presents them, see the sister guide:
/visual/ — the Wicked study guide, on the LAN.