Celebrated hit musical 'Wicked' returns to Broadway in Tucson

Broadway in Tucson found a new home in Centennial Hall in 2013 and celebrated with the hit musical “Wicked,” the prequel of sorts to “The Wizard of Oz.”

The production returns to Centennial Hall this week for a nearly three-week run through Feb. 6.

“Wicked” tells the story of Elphaba, a terribly misunderstood emerald green girl whose bitterness leads her to become the Wicked Witch of the West, and her nemesis Glinda, the pretty, blond, popular girl who becomes the Good Witch of the South.

This is a story that takes place long before Dorothy takes that dreamy rabbit hole trip to the world of Oz with her faithful pooch Toto.

“Wicked,” which premiered in 2003 and has played around the globe since, has a pretty thin storyline: Glinda and Elphaba are college classmates on different paths — Elphaba wants to save the corrupt world of Oz, Glinda loves makeup and all things pretty and just wants everybody to be happy.

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They hate each other.

But do they, really?

The story is helped by a soundtrack of memorable tunes including the the never-gets-old “Defying Gravity.”

Fun fact you can file under “Yes, it is a small world”: Kristin Chenoweth, who earned a Tony nomination playing Glinda in the Broadway original production, is performing a concert at Fox Tucson Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 30.