Wicked

What was missing from the original Wizard of Oz movie? Not ruby slippers, or weird death-related on-set mythologies, but in-world political intrigue, discussions of oppression, and a sex club with a tiger. Gregory MacGuire’s 1995 novel added those elements in with the crimson clogs to make an Oz lore twisty enough to grab the attention of Broadway bigwigs, who then made a musical of the same name. Strangely, they took out the tiger sex club, but added in songs that launched not one but two megastars in Kristin Chenoweth and the wi-cked-ly talented Idina Menzel. Catch the musical’s run in Austin before the big-screen adaptation pops up in November, and join the elite class who can say “Pfft. I liked it better in the theatre.” – James Scott