The show opens in "Dust Acres," a bleak, monochrome trailer park in Kansas. Sixteen-year-old Amy Gumm sings of her isolation, her mother’s substance abuse, and the relentless bullying she faces at school ("Salina, Kansas"). When a sudden, violent tornado rips through the county, Amy’s trailer is pulled into the sky. The stage explodes into color and discordant sound as the trailer crashes into a ruined Land of Oz. The vibrant yellow brick road is cracked, gray, and leaking magic. Amy is pulled from the wreckage by Pete, a mysterious palace gardener who cryptically tells her to head to the Emerald City before vanishing. Amy encounters Indigo, a goth Munchkin covered in historical tattoos of an uncorrupted Oz, and Ollie, a talking monkey whose wings were brutally amputated by the crown. Their journey is cut short when Dorothy’s grand inquisitor, the Tin Woodman, ambushes them ("The Iron Fist"). Indigo is killed defending Amy, and Amy is hauled away to the Emerald City in chains. In the Emerald Castle, Amy meets Dorothy Gale. Dorothy is no longer a sweet farm girl; she is a vicious tyrant who drains Oz's natural magic to fuel her own power and vanity ("Perfect Little Girl"). Imprisoned and sentenced to a horrific public trial, Amy is suddenly broken out by Mombi, a high-ranking witch of the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. Mombi teleports Amy to an underground cavern network, introducing her to Glamora and the rebel fighters, including the hostile, brooding warlock Nox. They reveal a prophecy: someone from the "Other World" must undo what Dorothy did. They offer Amy a choice: join them or die in Oz ("The Order's Decree"). Amy chooses to fight. A grueling, magical, and physical training sequence follows, during which Amy and Nox find common ground amidst their shared trauma ("Wicked Work").
