Show Synopsis:
The citizens of Oz are celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good Witch begins to tell the story of how she knew her before she turned wicked. They were roommates at Shiz University, where Elphaba was looking after her handicapped sister Nessarose, and became friends after Galinda (as she was known at the time) pulls a trick on Elphaba to humiliate her and feels remorse. Elphaba does not know how to control her magic, and helps rescue a lion cub from never knowing how to speak, as animals do in Oz. She begins to fall in love with Fiyero, who is involved with Galinda, and then her favorite teacher Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat, is asked to leave Shiz. Galinda changes her name to "Glinda," because that was what Dr. Dillamond called her, before accompanying Elphaba to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard. They discover that the Wizard is a bamboozling man who wants to enslave the animals of Oz, and Elphaba runs away from him. He and Shiz headmistress Madame Morrible spread the rumor that she is wicked and no one should trust her, while Glinda pretends that they never discovered anything. A few months later, Elphaba visits her sister, who now rules Munchkinland, and realizes that she has stripped the citizens' rights away. Nessarose tries to use Elphaba's spellbook to make the Munchkin Boq stay in love with her, but pronounces the words incorrectly, and Elphaba turns him into tin to save him. Elphaba sneaks into the Wizard's castle and realizes how cruel the Wizard is when she sees her old professor reduced to a simple goat. She is captured by Fiyero and other guards, but Fiyero runs away with her instead, because he has never loved his fiancee Glinda. Elphaba has a vision of Dorothy's house crushing her sister and rushes to Munchkinland, where she argues with Glinda and Fiyero saves Elphaba from being killed. Elphaba, anticipating Dorothy and her companions journeying to her castle to kill her, makes amends with Glinda and gives her her magic spellbook before staging her own death. The scarecrow is revealed to be Fiyero, Elphaba comes out of a trapdoor, and they run away together while Glinda laments that she'll never see Elphaba again, but has been changed by her friendship forever.	

Character:
Elphaba, a young woman about 18 years old; she was born green and has only recently realized that she might be able to make a significant difference instead of feeling like an outcast; stubborn and dedicated to her principles; smart and very much a bookworm; has a quick temper; secretly hates being so different from everyone around her.

Song Context:
Elphaba and Glinda have run from the Wizard's chamber, and they hear Madame Morrible tell all of Oz that she is wicked and should be captured and stopped. Elphaba is frightened of what is going to happen to her, having dreamt of being helped by the Wizard of Oz and then discovering that he is a fraud. She decides to stand for her principles and run away instead of conform to what the Wizard and Madame Morrible wants of her, and wants Glinda to go with her.	

Fun Facts:
1. The creative team of Wicked chose Idina Menzel for the role of Elphaba because she was "raw" in contrast to Kristin Chenoweth's Glinda. 
2. Menzel won a Tony Award for her performance as Elphaba. 
3. The sections of the song that are performed in a soprano range were altered when Menzel realized she needed to be able to project over an entire ensemble, and did not feel she had enough volume by staying in an alto range. She also thought the music would mirror her actions - she would go up in the air, and so would the notes.