Wicked is a musical that premiered on Broadway at the George Gershwin Theatre on October 30, 2003. It is touted as the untold story of the witches of Oz and is loosely based on the best selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. The musical features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. With musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento, Wicked is directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello.

The original cast included Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, and Joel Grey as The Wizard. Business and popularity boomed due to very good word-of-mouth, and the box office was boosted when the show was nominated for ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The show was considered the front-runner for the award, making it the show to beat. It subsequently lost that award along with the Tony Awards for best score and best book to another new musical of the season, Avenue Q. Menzel was named Best Actress in a Musical. The musical received two additional Tony awards—to Eugene Lee for scenic design and Susan Hilferty for costume design. The cast recording received the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album in 2005.

The show began its first US national tour in early 2005 with extended runs in cities such as Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, and Boston. In late June of 2005, a permanent production of Wicked, separate from the national tour, opened at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre with an open-ended run, which many consider to be a harbinger of things to come for Chicago theatre. It was recently reported that a second sit-down production is slated to open in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre, making a total of four simultaneous productions of Wicked in the United States.

Internationally, another engagement opened in London on September 27, 2006. In addition, a condensed, 30-minute version of the show opened on July 12, 2006 at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. There are also plans for a full production in Japan, opening sometime in 2007. Future productions have been rumored for Germany, Toronto, and Australia.