It's good to be green unless, of course, you're Glinda the Good Witch in the hit Broadway show "Wicked."

But even Katie Rose Clarke, who plays Glinda in the touring production, admitted she wouldn't mind a go at portraying her emerald-colored counterpart, the Wicked Witch of the West, just once.

"I love my role," she said in a phone interview to promote "Wicked," which opens Wednesday at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha. "It would be fun to do the green witch once. I'm not sure I could sing it."

"Wicked" is the Tony Award-winning musical from Stephen Schwartz (music, lyrics) and Winnie Holzman (book).

It's based on Gregory Maguire's best-selling 1995 novel that tells the "untold story" of the witches of Oz.

Long before Dorothy skips down the yellow brick road, two other girls meet in Oz.

One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.

"Wicked" tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

We also learn the origins of the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and those frightful flying monkeys.

"Wicked" opened October 2003 at the George Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, where through Sunday, it's enjoyed 2,270 performances. The original starred Kristin Chenowith as Glinda and Idina Menzel as the green-tinged Elphaba.

The musical helped launch the career of the sprite Kristin Chenowith, a recent fixture of the small screen in "The West Wing" and "Pushing Daisies." And Menzel - the show won her a 2004 Tony Award as best actress in a musical.

For Clarke, who graduated from Sam Houston State in her native Texas not that long ago, the musical is a dream come true. She was in college when the show debuted.

"When it came out, I never imagined that someday I would be playing the role of Glinda," she said. "I remember I was really taken by the music and story. I knew I loved it."

And Glinda, too, recalling how she was fascinated by the good witch's bubbles in the famous movie.

"She was, of course, beautiful," Clarke said. "Everybody loves her."

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.