Willemijn Verkaik will play the green-faced Elphaba, while Lucy Scherer will star as the curly-locked Glinda. Wicked — Die Hexen Von Oz is scheduled to begin performances at Stuttgart's Palladium Theatre Nov. 15. Wicked can also be seen on Broadway, in London, in Chicago, in Los Angeles, in the U.S. national tour and in Tokyo. A Melbourne production will open in July 2008.

Based on Gregory Maguire's novel, which turned every Oz myth inside out, Wicked explores the early life of the witches of Oz: Glinda and Elphaba. The two main characters meet at Shiz, a school where both hope to take up sorcery. Glinda is madly popular and Elphaba is, well, green. By a misunderstanding, they wind up roommates and, after an initial period of mutual loathing, begin to learn something about each other. Their life paths continue to intersect through a shared love, entry into the Emerald City and interaction with the Wizard himself. Eventually, their choices and convictions take them on widely different paths.

With a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman, Wicked began previews on Broadway Oct. 8, 2003, after a summer tryout at San Francisco's Curran Theatre.

For more information visit www.wickedthemusical.com.