Wicked

In the Land of Oz, Glinda the Good joins the citizens of Munchkinland as they celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. When asked why wickedness happens, Glinda explains that the Witch was the product of an affair between Governor Thropp's wife Melena and a mysterious traveling salesman. The salesman offered Melena a green elixir, causing the Witch to be born with green skin. Maligned from birth for her skin and impulsive use of magical powers, the Witch fostered a wish to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the ruler of Oz famed for his power to grant wishes. When the Munchkins ask if Glinda was friends with the Witch, she reflects on their relationship back at school.

Years earlier, green-skinned Elphaba Thropp escorts younger sister Nessarose on her first day at Shiz University. Nessarose's paraplegia causes the staff to patronise her, prompting an emotional outburst of Elphaba's powers. Shiz's Dean of Sorcery Studies, Madame Morrible, offers to enroll and privately tutor Elphaba in sorcery. She accepts, hoping she can fulfill her dream of working with the Wizard. Elphaba clashes constantly with her roommate, the popular Galinda Upland, who longs to become Morrible's student.

Elphaba's history professor is Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat who faces discrimination as one of Shiz's last Animal professors. She follows him to a meeting of Animals off-campus. Learning the Animals are somehow losing their ability to speak, Elphaba assures Dillamond the Wizard will set it right. Rebellious prince and transfer student Fiyero Tigelaar takes a group of students to a party at the Ozdust Ballroom nightclub. When Munchkin Boq Woodsman asks Galinda to accompany him, she convinces him to invite Nessarose so she can attend with Fiyero instead. Nessarose is overjoyed, and in thanks, Elphaba convinces Morrible to allow Galinda to study sorcery as well. When Elphaba is ridiculed at the Ozdust for wearing an ugly black hat gifted by Galinda as a practical joke, a remorseful Galinda dances with her, and the two begin to bond.

When Dillamond informs the class that Animals are no longer allowed to teach at Shiz, he is forcibly removed from the classroom and replaced by the unscrupulous Professor Nikidik, who demonstrates a cage containing a frightened lion cub, designed to prevent Animals from learning to speak. Elphaba angrily spins poppy dust over the room and escapes with Fiyero when the class falls unconscious. They release the cub into the forest, and Elphaba laments her unrequited feelings for Fiyero, who has chosen Galinda.

Elphaba receives an invitation from the Wizard, who has been made aware of her powers by Morrible. She arrives in the Emerald City with Galinda, now calling herself "Glinda" in solidarity with Dillamond, who constantly mispronounced her name. Their meeting with the Wizard, in which they're surprised to learn he's an ordinary man, is witnessed by Morrible. They induce Elphaba to cast a levitation spell from the sacred Grimmerie, a spellbook that only powerful sorcerers can read and comprehend, causing the Wizard's monkey guards to painfully sprout wings. As the Wizard and Morrible rejoice over their newfound ability to use the monkeys as spies, Elphaba realizes that they are the ones behind the Animals' oppression and that the fraudulent Wizard, unable to read the Grimmerie and lacking real magic of his own, used her to subjugate them further. A horrified Elphaba seizes the Grimmerie and flees.

Glinda follows Elphaba, who refuses to apologize to the Wizard, as Morrible denounces her to all of Oz. Elphaba tries to escape the Emerald City in the Wizard's hot air balloon, but the way up is barred, and the balloon burns up. High in a palace attic, Elphaba repeats the levitation spell on a broom. She urges Glinda to come with her, but Glinda chooses to remain behind. The two share an emotional farewell. Fiyero leaves Shiz on horseback amidst a mass evacuation, while Governor Thropp suffers a fatal heart attack when he and Nessarose receive the news. Elphaba flies west, leaving Glinda behind.