When Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Wicked premiered nearly 22 years ago, it changed the landscape of musical theatre. So when Broadway Entertainment Group (BEG) began looking for its next major production after The Phantom of the Opera, it felt like a natural progression. A few years ago, James Bilios, executive director at BEG, approached the rights holders of Wicked. “We said, ‘Look, it’s a little tired on Broadway.’ We wanted to give it a real lift and bring it forward 25 years,” he says.

“We put together a team for a new interpretation, and while the music and script remain untouched, the reinvention lies in the world-building: It’s costumes, the makeup, scenography, direction, sets, and lighting. Nearly 200 people are involved in the process,” says Bilios. However, for him, spectacle alone isn’t enough. “I’m old enough now to say if I do something, it’s got to be meaningful, not just la-di-da Broadway entertainment. Beneath the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba, there’s something more urgent at play, a quiet subversiveness, a silencing of voices, the shadow of control, and the fear of difference. Elphaba’s story holds all of that,” he adds.