 Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz discovered writer Gregory Maguire 's 1995 novel Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West while on vacation and saw its potential for a dramatic adaptation . Maguire , however , had released the rights to Universal Pictures , who had planned to develop a live @-@ action feature film . In 1998 , Schwartz persuaded Maguire to release the rights to a stage production while also making what Schwartz called an " impassioned plea " to Universal producer Marc Platt to realise Schwartz 's own intended adaptation . Persuaded , Platt signed on as joint producer of the project with Universal and David Stone . 
