Houdyshell was last seen on Broadway in Well, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She received a Theatre World Award, an Obie, and Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for her role in the show's Off-Broadway production. She received the Joseph Jefferson Award for The Pain and the Itch and repeated that role in the show's Off-Broadway staging this fall at Playwrights Horizons, and a Barrymore Award for the Wilma Theater's production of The Clean House.

Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The Broadway production currently stars Kate Reinders, Ana Gasteyer, David Garrison, Derrick Williams, Jenna Leigh Green, Logan Lipton, and Steven Skybell.