The plot serves as a prequel to the 1900 novel and 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which a young girl named Dorothy lands in Oz after dreaming of getting away from her hometown of Kansas. Wicked also stars Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, the love interest of both Dorothy and Elphaba who, in the musical, becomes a scarecrow as a result of Elphaba's spell.

Judy Garland played Dorothy Gale, the lead role in the musical fantasy, but Margaret Hamilton who played the Wicked Witch of the West commanded a much bigger salary from the studio behind the movie. “Maggie Hamilton came to MGM as a Broadway star with credits and started out at a higher weekly rate,