L. Frank Baum’s Wicked Witch of the West was an unnamed old crone who was blind in one eye and happened to be a perfectly normal color. Elphaba, as she’s written in Wicked the Musical, is a complex and vulnerable young woman with glowing green skin. When did this witch turn green? When did she start singing? Did she always fly? Settle down, class! It’s time for a history lesson.

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