Wicked has truly defied gravity. When it opened in 2003, it received a pan from The New York Times, usually a death knell for a new musical. “Wicked does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway musical,” wrote Ben Brantley. It has been filling the cavernous Gershwin Theatre ever since, without the stunt casting and other marketing ploys that o musicals use to sustain long runs.

But has Wicked jumped the shark? The first film of its two part adaptation received strong reviews and Oscar nominations for its two stars and for Best Picture; the second met with far less love. On Broadway, its average ticket price even dipped below $100 for a week this summer. After nearly 23 years, perhaps that is to be expected, nor doesit mean Wicked is about to close in New York any time soon or disappear from the road. The current national tour has dates announced through August 2027, and on its seventh visit to Boston where it is playing at the Citizens Opera House through November 15, it still glistens in emerald green glory.

Wicked is, of course, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, which supplies a backstory to L. Frank Baum’s classic while creating its own mythology. At its center is a question: Is wickedness caused by nature or nurture? Maguire turns our assumptions about The Wizard of Oz on their head in a spectacularly intriguing manner. Simply put, we’re not in Judy Garland’s Oz anymore.

Winnie Holzman’s adaptation centers on Elphaba, who is no longer simply the Wicked Witch of the West but a feisty outsider marked by her green skin. How she and Glinda, her reluctant college roommate, become friends is the musical’s focus. Woven through their story is Maguire’s political commentary on the nature of authoritarianism. The Wizard is no longer merely the smooth-talking impostor of The Wizard of Oz, but a manipulator bent on a divide-and-conquer strategy. In this Oz, Animals are sentient beings with voices and standing; the Wizard persecutes and silences them to consolidate his power. By opposing him, Elphaba becomes the perfect scapegoat. “The best way to bring folks together is to give them a really good enemy,” the Wizard cynically observes.

In telling Elphaba’s story, Holzman shrewdly mixes camp elements with a fast-moving narrative. It helps that virtually everyone in the audience has had the original story ingrained in their memory since childhood, giving this retelling both context and a point of reference for many of its jokes. Wicked is a musical for an age of irony, taking a popular source and offering a cheeky commentary on it.

It also has Stephen Schwartz’s best score. He writes in the pop-Broadway idiom he helped shape decades ago with Godspell and Pippin, and he is at the top of his game here. This may be his most sophisticated work, but it is accessible to the average theatergoer, with such earworms as “Popular,” “For Good” and “Defying Gravity,” which remains a breathtaking first-act finale.

What is refreshing about the tour’s leads, Aline Mayagoitia as Elphaba and Claudia Bennett as Glinda, is that both bring fresh approaches to their roles. Mayagoitia gives Elphaba an intense fierceness that enhances her freedom-fighter persona, and she has a powerful belt to match. Bennett is terrific at conveying Glinda’s growing ambivalence, and her light soprano serves the songs well. The company is strong throughout: Ethan Kirschbaum charms as Fiyero; Tom McGowan plays the Wizard as a calculating villain; Susan Cella is a commanding Madame Morrible; and Cristina Sastre has a memorable turn as Elphaba’s embittered sister, Nessarose.

Happily, this Wicked remains the gold standard of musical tours. Joe Mantello’s staging and Wayne Cilento’s choreography remain intact, and the superb design work is still one of the musical’s greatest pleasures. Eugene Lee’s sets, Susan Hilferty’s costumes and Kenneth Posner’s lighting continue to dazzle, though the show’s look feels decidedly old-school given the technological changes in Broadway design over the past two decades.

At Thursday night’s performance, it was sweet to see a queer dad bring his 8-year-old son to the boy’s first musical. The father said he had first seen the show when he was 13 and wanted his son to see it. Is there a better introduction to musical theater than the heartfelt spectacle that is Wicked?

Wicked plays the Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston, through November 15, 2026. For tickets and performance information, visit boston.broadway.com.