Wicked is a Tony award-winning American musical produced by Universal Pictures with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Winnie Holzman. The story 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 is directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. The musical, following Maguire's novel, is a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's classic story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the witches of Oz, set mostly prior to Dorothy's arrival from Kansas. The plot also makes several references to the classic 1939 film. Long before Dorothy drops in, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. Wicked tells the story of how these two unlikely friends grew to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.