The cinematic adaptation of the beloved story, Wicked, hit theaters on Nov. 22 and features a stacked cast, including Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the film, including the release of Wicked Stanley Cups, Wicked-inspired Starbucks drinks, and even Wicked shoes. The new film is a significant cultural moment because of how popular the story is — but where did this tale come from?
Wicked, the film and play, is a loose adaptation of the 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire. While Maguire’s book and the musical hold the same plot, the novel has a much darker theme. Throughout the book, there are religious sects, descriptions of terrain never mentioned in the musical, and some of R-rated content. From Elphaba biting off a midwife’s finger as a newborn to her parents being involved in a throuple, some weird happenings take place in the book, and of course, BookTok caught onto them quickly.
“Trigger warning for everything. If you can think of it, it’s in here,” TikTok creator @eryn810 said in a video breaking down Maguire’s book.
But despite the bestiality of the book, Maguire still helped bring the world of Oz from Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which inspired the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, to life. Fun fact: The Wizard of Oz was the first feature-length film to use Technicolour. Maguire dove into the world of Oz but focused on the villain of the story, the Wicked Witch of the West. He created a rich backstory for her to challenge our preconceived ideas of good and evil.
I’m sure almost everyone knows the quintessential story behind Wicked, but if you don’t, I got you. Wicked is set in the land of Oz and follows a lonely witch with green skin named Elphaba before she earned the famous title of The Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba is overlooked and isolated because of her green skin, but she strikes an unlikely and complex friendship with the beautiful and beloved witch, Glinda.
The movie is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, Wicked, which opened in 2003 and starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda. The play has been so well received by fans that it’s still showing at the Gershwin Theatre in NYC. Wicked is Broadway’s fourth-longest-running show, however, this isn’t the full story of everyone’s beloved fantasy.
Maguire’s legacy continues 21 years later, with his radical, imaginative ideas being brought to the big screen by Grande, Erivo, and movie director Jon Chu. The world of Oz has been colorful and enticing to people everywhere since Baum’s initial story about Dorothy’s trip to Oz in 1900, meaning people have been entranced by the magic of Oz for over 120 years. The story has been told in many different fashions and will continue to adapt as new nuances are found within the timeless story.