Galinda Upland (originally referred to as Galinda of the Arduennas of the Uplands) is a main character of the Wicked Years and the musical based on the trilogy. Appearing first in the second portion of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West She is a beautiful Gillikenese girl and the daughter of Larena Upland and Highmuster Arduenna. Through her mother, she is descended from the noble clan of the Arduennas of the Uplands of Gilliken.
Her character is seen extensively in the first half of the novel, but disappears for most of the second half, compared to her musical counterpart. She is snobby, superficial, and obsessed with appearing to be high class enoygh, due to the fact she's only partially noble. However, she is also intelligent enough to be accepted to Shiz University's Crage Hall, where she is forced to share a room with another student by the name of Elphaba Thropp, due to her chaperone, Ama Clutch, being temporarily delayed. Due to Elphaba's green skin and apathy towards fashion and social standing, she ignores Elphaba and pretends she is not her roommate. She instead makes friends with a group of girls and leads an active social life. At one point, Boq, a student from Briscoe Hall, falls in love with her, but she rejects him due to differences in race and status, though she agrees to be friends with him. Eventually, she and Elphaba seem to having a begrudging companionship, though she still resents Elphaba and is shocked when she appears at her vacation home due to a prank by one of her friends.
It is not until Dr. Dillamond, who she'd met on the way to Shiz and who she had behaved rudely towards, is killed and Ama Clutch is incapcitated as a result that she realizes how self-centered she's been, and truly allows Elphaba to become her friend. To mark this new change, she changes her name to Glinda, which the late doctor had called her. In her second year, she takes up sorcery as her major and begins to excell at it, being able to cure Ama Clutch's condition, though she could not save her life. At the Ama's funeral, she is called, along with Elphaba and Nessarose, to Madame Morrible's office and offered the chance of becoming an Adept of Magic, who work as a behind-the-scene minister for the government, though a spell is put on her so she does not remember until Morrible wishes her to. After this, she accompanies Elphaba to Emerald City to meet the Wizard, though it is disappointing and not much gets done. Afterwards, she is shocked when Elphaba says she's leaving and begs her to stay, to no avail.
Glinda then returns to school, where she seems to take a sisterly role to Nessarose in Elphaba's absence. She completes her degree and later marries an older nobleman named Sir Chuffrey and becomes known as Lady Glinda Chuffrey. She becomes famous for her philanthropy, working in tangent with her husband's business deals. At one point, she casts a spell over Nessarose's shoes which inadvertently allow her to move better. After Nessarose is killed by Dorothy Gale, she sends Dorothy to the Wizard, hoping he'll be able to help her return to Kansas and gives her ruby slippers to protect her. She meets Elphaba before Nesarose's funeral, and tells her what happened, and is chastised by Elphaba for giving Dorothy the shoes. Though she tries to convince Elphaba not to go after Dorothy, she refuses to listen and storms off. They see each other only once after that, but Elphaba walks past her and does not speak, even when Glinda calls her name. They would never meet again.
In Son of A Witch
Lady Glinda tragically is widowed from her husband, Sir Chuffrey, and is chosen by the provisional government to be Throne Minister. Her job, according to the Scarecrow, is to "clean up" the affairs left by the Wizard and it is implied that after this is complete, she would be expected to resign in favor of a new Minister. When Liir comes to visit her, to request her help in finding Nor, she does not believe him and has a breakdown in front of him, even smashing a glass china doll on a nearby nic-nac table, speaking about the treachery of her position and the people around her, and throwing Elphaba's broom into the fireplace in a fury. Upon seeing that despite the fire, the broom itself will not burn and disintegrate, thus being magic. Glinda realizes he must be a confidant of Elphaba's and directs him to Commander Cherrystone and Shell, who can led him into Southstairs.
She reappears later in the book to make a bequest to the Cloister of St. Glinda
In Out Of Oz
By the time of Out of Oz Glinda is living at her estate of Mockbegger Hall. Years before, she had taken in Rain, the daughter of Liir, in order to protect her identity. Her household is on the Lake Restwater. This puts her on the forefront of the Oz-Munchkinland war as the lake's water is a chief resource both sides are fighting for. Because of this, her home is commandeered by Commander Cherrystone and most of her staff is dismissed. When the crew of the Clock of the Time Dragon came into town, she authorized a performance of the Clock. However, the prophetic performance upset Cherrystone and his men. The crew gifts her the Grimmerie, which she is able to conceal with a spell within it. However, the performance of the Clock causes greater restrictions in her household. When Cherrystone launches his invasion of Munchkinland using the dragon-pulled boats, Glinda and Rain cast "To Call Winter Upon the Water", which freezes the lake, trapping the boats and dragons. She then smuggles Rain out, giving her over to Brrr for protection.
Anyways, Glinda finally reappears towards the end of the book where she has a brief conversation with Rain, where she explains she is being sent to Southstairs for her actions at Mockbegger Hall, though Brrr later explains that she'll be freed as soon as it is advisable to do so, and indeed, she is freed as the book closes. Her ultimate fate, like most of the characters, is left open to the imagination of the reader.
In the Musical
Kendra Kassebaum playing Glinda
In the novel's Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, Glinda is one of the two female leads as the musical focuses on her friendship with Elphaba (the young woman who becomes the infamous Wicked Witch of the West). In the novel, her role was minor, as she only appears a couple of times out of the Shiz setting, but in the musical her role was expanded. As in the novel, Glinda is characterized by her popularity and ambition and goes by the name of Galinda Upland (who hails from the Upper Uplands). Glinda is a very bubbly and popular girl. Unlike in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz she has blonde hair instead of red hair and a blue dress instead of a light pink dress. She and Elphaba cross paths while attending Shiz University, and while the two girls dislike each other at first, they eventually become best friends. Galinda enrolls in Madame Morrible's sorcery tutorial, but is precluded from entering when Morrible decides to tutor Elphaba privately. Later, however, Elphaba convinces Madame Morrible to admit Galinda to the sessions. Glinda is rather irritated by Doctor Dillamond's constant mispronunciation of her name (he has difficulty pronouncing the first 'a', and so calls her "Glinda", to which she often responds "It's Galinda. With a 'Ga'"). It is therefore somewhat ironic that she, herself, constantly makes the mistake of addressing Boq, a Munchkin boy who is infatuated with her, as "Bick". As in the novel, Galinda later shortens her name to Glinda (telling the Wizard of Oz that "the 'Ga' is silent" when she introduces herself to him). She does this to mark the firing of Dr. Dillamond, but also in an attempt to impress Fiyero, her love interest.
Glinda in the Helsinki Production.
When Elphaba decides to rebel against the Wizard, she offers Glinda the chance to go with her, but Glinda decides to stay behind and realize her opportunities with the Wizard, ultimately sealing her destiny to become "Glinda the Good."
She shares a relationship with Fiyero , but is oblivious to his increasingly strong romantic feelings toward the now vilified Elphaba. When the two eventually run off together, Glinda is left heartbroken and enraged, but later realizes that Fiyero really does love Elphaba. She is present when the Wizard sends witch-hunters to kill Elphaba, and, unable to stand by while her friend is killed, she goes to Kiamo Ko to warn her of the impending danger. Before being supposedly melted by Dorothy, Elphaba makes Glinda promise not to clear her name, and gives her the Grimmerie, a legendary spell book. Glinda tells her that of all the friends she has had, Elphaba is the only one who really mattered, and the two Witches acknowledge that each has been changed by their friendship. Glinda then confronts the Wizard with the revelation that Elphaba was in fact his own daughter, and forces him to leave Oz, before having Madame Morrible arrested, thus exacting long-overdue justice for Elphaba. She announces to the citizens of Oz that she will try to help them recover in the aftermath of the past few years, and that she wishes to truly earn the title of 'Glinda the Good'.
Susan Hilferty, the designer of the costumes of Wicked, explained there are 25 different kinds of sequins used on The Bubble Dress.
The sequins are all hand-sewn.
The Bubble Dress was intended to appear like a wedding dress or every girl's fantasy of a princess outfit.
There are 9 different fabrics used in the construction of the Bubble Dress.
The Popular Dress has little rainbow stiches on the bodice.
All of the bags have a bit of glitter on them.
According to the family tree in A Lion Among Men, her mother is Larena Upland and her father is Highmuster Arduenna.
In L. Frank Baum's novel Glinda was the Good witch of the South, it wasn't untill the 1930's movie that Hollywood changed it to the North for some "unknown" reason.
In the Wizard Of Oz Glinda wears a pink puffy dress but in Wicked she wears a blue dress.
The role of Glinda/Galinda was originated by Kristin Chenoweth.
Though the first book claims she is an Arduenna through her mother. the family tree in the third book claims her mother is an Upland and her father is an Arduenna
Her name in the book was originally different and longer, but it was changed to match that of her musical counterpart.
Portrayers
Broadway Production
Megan Hilty as Glinda with Eden Espinosa as Elphaba
