"They wrote about him as if he were the next Hitler. I thought maybe he is, maybe he isn't. What if he isn't, how would we know? You apply a word like Hitler and it raises everybody's blood pressure. Apply a word like Wicked to a woman and it raises everybody's blood pressure," said Gregory Maguire.
But bringing his green-skinned heroine to life on stage was a leap Maguire hadn't dreamed of, until acclaimed Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz came calling.
"I said, 'Sure go for it. Whatever you want to do is fine with me, provided you keep the essential moral flavor of the story. You can make it lighter, funnier, darker,'" said Maguire.
For the composer of hits like Pippin and Godspell, the transition to musical theater made perfect sense.
"Gregory's book is a brilliant idea but in addition, we already know Oz is a musical world. They already sing in our minds, they made it less daunting," said Stephen Schwartz.
It hit Broadway in 2003 and went on to win three Tony awards.
A touring cast arrived in Chicago this spring and in June, Chicago got its own stationary show, led by former Saturday Night Live cast member Ana Gasteyer. Alongside Ana, are locals, Rondi Reed and Gene Weygandt, long known on the Chicago theatre circuit.
"There's such a wide range of really talented performers in Chicago, its good to be able to draw upon that," said Schwartz.
The cast will be playing to audiences in an open-run in Chicago so the Midwest can see for themselves how this sensation swept Broadway.
"Gregory said it best when he said somewhere during the San Francisco tryout as he was listening to the audience response, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and it hasn't gone back down," said Schwartz.
