Elphie

What happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel,for the first time Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphiethe future Wicked Witch of the West–setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is Wicked: The Musical. Elphabathe Wicked Witch of the Westwill grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-offfrom her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl. Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous motherMelenaand her pious fatherFrex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sistersaintly Nessaroseand brotherjunior felon Shellarrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Ozwhich live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlementshaunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendshipa possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an educationhaphazard though it must be–until she arrives at the doors of Shiz Universityabout to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda. Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood–most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviorsas she seeks to make doto slip byto sneak outto endureand to aspire.