The Book Wicked Is Based on Is So Much Darker Than You Know

Anyone who's going to see Wicked this week probably knows that it's based on the highly popular musical of the same name or that this is only half of the musical's story. But the Wicked musical draws from its own source material: the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. The Wicked novel, much like the musical and movie it inspired, provides a revisionist take on The Wizard of Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West or Elphaba Thropp, as she's known in the novel. It also takes a far darker turn than the musical ever did, especially when it comes to Elphaba's life. How dark? Let's just say that there are some sections that will sink deep into readers' nightmares.