 On May 28 , 2003 , the first performance of Wicked was held at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco , as the start of SHN pre @-@ Broadway tryouts . After officially opening on June 10 , 2003 , it ran there for the month and finished on June 29 , 2003 . Audience reaction was mostly positive and although critics tended to compliment the aesthetic and spectacle of the show , they disparaged the state of its book , score , and choreography . Dennis Harvey of Variety commented positively of the " sleekly directed " , " <unk> designed " and " smartly cast " production yet still disapproved of its " mediocre " book , " trite " lyrics and " largely generic " music while Karen D 'Souza of the San Jose Mercury News wrote that " Style over substance is the real theme in this Emerald City . " Noting mixed response , the creative team started making extensive changes , tweaking it before its transfer to Broadway . Winnie Holzman stated , " Stephen [ Schwartz ] wisely had insisted on having three months to rewrite in @-@ between the time we closed in San Francisco and when we were to go back into rehearsals in New York . That was crucial ; that was the thing that made the biggest difference in the life of the show . That time is what made the show work . " 
