Following the Yellow Brick Road Down the Wicked Rabbit Hole

Where It All Began 

The Wizard of Oz universe began with a book titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow, released in 1900. The book starts with a short biography of the author. Baum was born in Chittenango, New York in 1856. He grew up like a nerd and preferred reading fairy tales in his father’s library. He was sent off to a military academy when he was 12, but after two years, the stress made him sick, so he came home and began writing. 

Baum started a paper with his younger brother Harry, which they named after their family estate. The Rose Lawn Home Journal was filled with news, short stories, and poetry. He moved to New York City to study acting when he was 25, and his dad appointed him manager of a string of his theaters. 

In 1882, Baum had his first successful theatrical play, which he had written, directed, and starred. After struggling with keeping many other jobs, Baum did what he did best and began writing again. He wrote a few successful books before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was released in 1900. 

This book is the first in a series exploring the wonderful, magical Land of Oz. Baum wrote a total of 14 books for this series. 

After Baum died in 1919, publisher Reilly & Lee continued to produce annual Oz books. Ruth Plumly Thompson picked up the role of writer in 1921 and wrote 19 Oz books. After Thompson, Reilly & Lee published 7 more books in the series: 3 by John R. Neill, two by Jack Snow, 1 by Rachel R.C. Payes, and a final book by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw. The 40 books in Reilly & Lee's Oz series are called "The Famous 40" by fans. 

We will only be focusing on the first book in this series, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which explores Dorothy being swept up from Kansas and taken to Oz in a flying house that lands on the sister of a very wicked witch. 

In the summer of 1901, Baum, illustrator W.W. Denslow, and composer Paul Tietjens began plans to produce The Wizard of Oz on stage. Baum wrote an operetta-style libretto that followed the storyline of the book pretty closely. 

The proposal eventually made its way to Fred Hamlin, who was a producer of the Grand Opera House in Chicago. Hamlin showed the material to up-and-coming stage director Julian Mitchell, who wasn’t very interested in the original operetta. 

In New York, a very pissed of Baum rewrote his script to match Mitchell’s story. Mitchell and Tietjens didn’t get along, and soon enough, Mitchell went elsewhere to find some upbeat pop songs. 

The Wizard of Oz opened on stage for the first time on June 16, 1902, at the Grand Opera House in Chicago. And it was a hit. On January 21, 1903, The Wizard of Oz opened on Broadway at the brand-new Majestic Theatre on Columbus Circle. And once again, it was a hit. After nine months on Broadway, the show hit the road and began touring the nation. 

In 1910, the Selig Polyscope Company produced a ten-minute-long silent film version. It featured some aspects of the Broadway show, including a cow named Imogene and the Tin Woodman playing a piccolo. Maybe I should’ve read that note before watching the movie on YouTube because I truly had no idea what to expect, and it was…something. 

Here are just a few odd highlights from the 1910 Wizard of Oz movie: The scarecrow is part of the Kansas universe and not the Oz universe. Dorothy hangs out with him before the twister comes, which takes her away in a hay bail, not a twister. Dorothy, the scarecrow, and two donkeys get blown to Oz, not just Dorothy and Toto. 

Momba the Witch is taking over Oz and trying to get the Wizard to go back to Omaha. It’s not The Wicked Witch of the West or Elphaba; it’s Momba. 

Most of the animals on camera are just people in animal costumes. I didn’t even realize Toto was in the 1910 movie until Glinda changed him from a tiny real dog to a human being in a big dog costume. She does this so he can fight the lion. Toto and the lion fight, but then they shake hands and hug. 

They kill the witch with water, and the Wizard prepares for a flight back to Omaha in his hot air balloon. Except, Dorothy doesn’t go with him. He just leaves after pulling multiple animals out of his hat. Dorothy and Toto willingly stay in Oz and just smile and wave at the end of the movie. They didn’t want to go home. 

Judy Garland Wants To Go Home 

But Dorothy did want to go home. In the original book and the movie musical version of The Wizard of Oz, which was released in August 1939, starring Ms. Judy Garland. 

The Wizard of Oz was MGM’s most expensive production at the time of its release because of its use of technicolor, which required three times as much film as a black-and-white production. They had to shoot under intense lighting, which made temperatures extremely high on set. 

Despite the legendary status and almost universal acclaim, the Wizard of Oz earned about $3 million at the box office, which means the studio lost more than a million dollars. The film didn’t break even until its re-release a decade later, in 1949. 

According to the Library of Congress, it’s the most-watched movie of all time and was one of the first 25 films to be included in the National Film Registry of the United States.

In both the book and the 1939 film, young Dorothy lives with her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry. She’s stuck in the house and gets swept up in a twister, which lands her in the Land of Oz. It also lands her on the Wicked Witch of the East, which pisses off her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West. A good witch gives Dorothy a fancy pair of shoes and sends her down the yellow brick road to ask the Wizard to send her home. 

She finds the Scarecrow, who needs a brain, Tinman, who needs a heart, and the Lio,n who needs courage. They all go to the Wizard, who orders them to kill the Wicked Witch, which Dorothy does with a bucket of water. The Wizard reveals he’s a big old fake and phony and reveals they all already have the things they wish for deep down inside of them - except for Dorothy. She needs to go home, and he can’t do that. But maybe he can in his big old hot air balloon, which is what he came to Oz in. The dumb man didn’t know how to land, and instead of going back to Omaha, he went to Oz.

So, the Wizard and Dorothy try to leave Oz in the balloon, but Toto jumps out, and Dorothy chases him while the Wizard flies away in the balloon. In the book, they have to travel to Glinda the Good Witch, but in the movie, she just appears and admits that Dorothy could go home this whole time. She just needs to click her heels three times. In the book, a gust of wind takes her home, and in the movie, she wakes up and realizes it's all a dream. 

While most of the story stays the same, there are many differences between the 1900 book and the 1939 film. Here are just some that I noticed. First off, there’s little time spent in Kansas. There’s no introduction to everyone on the farm besides the fact that Aunty Em and Uncle Henry take care of orphan Dorothy, and they rarely smile. 

In the movie, we meet the farm hands, the fake psychic, and even the mean old neighbor who tries to take Toto away and kill him. The tornado happens in the first few pages of the book, so we hardly spend any time in Kansas. 

When Dorothy lands in Oz in the book, she is greeted by The Witch of the North, who is an old, wrinkly witch. She is not Glinda in The Good Witch. She is the old and ugly good witch of the north. She is the one who gives Wicked Witch of the East’s silver shoes. Not ruby red slippers. 

The book does confirm lore that I thought only existed in the Wicked universe. For example, they mention Winkies and Quadlings as groups of people who live in this fictional universe. Also, Boq is introduced in the original book. 

Dorothy stays at his house on her journey to meet the Wizard, and he has a wife and child. This is actually a storyline in the Wicked book, so I knew Boq and Dorothy met, I just didn’t realize it was back in 1900. 

Of course, Dorothy meets her friends on the book’s yellow brick road in the same way she meets them in the movie, but they get into weirder shenanigans in the book. For example, they have to cross a river, and the scarecrow gets stuck on a pole in the middle of the river, and a stork saves him. 

The exact quote reads: “So the big bird flew into the air and over the water till she came to where the Scarecrow was perched upon his pole. Then the Stork with her great claws grabbed the Scarecrow by the arms and carried him up into the air and back to the bank, where Dorothy and the Lion and the Tin Woodman and Toto were sitting” (71).  

They also get into the same shenanigans, like falling asleep in the poppy field. Instead of asbestos waking them up, the Tinman and Scarecrow take Dorothy away from the field, and the Queen of the Field Mice orders her mice army to build a truck to save the lion.

In both the book and movie, no one has ever seen The Wizard. Rumor has it he appears differently for everyone. In the book, they have to stay at the Wizard’s castle for multiple days before seeing him, but in the movie, they get one makeover, and Dorothy cries about her Aunt and Uncle, and they are allowed to see him. 

In both the book and movie, Dorothy is ordered to kill the Wicked Witch and does so with a bucket of water. But, in the book, there are a few differences, first off, Dorothy is held captive for quite some time and put to work cleaning the witch’s castle. Dorothy also gains control of the flying monkeys with a magic hat. They fly them back to Oz because she has this hat. 

We all know by now that the Wizard is a sham, and he always has been. Seriously, even in the 1900 book, the Wizard admits he was a ventriloquist and then a balloonist who set off from Omaha but didn’t touch down until he reached Oz.

He’s also an idiot who can’t lower a balloon because, in both the book and movie, Dorothy runs after Toto after making a plan with the Wizard to leave via a hot air balloon. Toto’s dumbass runs out, and the Wizard goes up in a hot air balloon and says, “I can’t come back, I don’t know how it works!” 

They go to Glinda for help, but I need to remind you that the book characters haven’t met Glinda yet. Dorothy was greeted by the old wrinkly Witch of the North. So they have to travel through a city of china porcelain dolls where everyone and everything is extremely breakable. They also run into animals having a meeting in the forest. They are discussing a big spider that is attacking them, and the lion kills it because he is the king of the forest. 

In the movie, Glinda just kind of shows up. In both the book and the movie, Dorothy gets home with three clicks of her heels, but in the book, they are silver, in the movie, they are ruby red. She also returns home in completely different ways. In the book, she is picked up by a gust of wind that carries her back to Kansas. 

In the movie, Glinda is kinda cunty before she sends Dorothy home. She tells Dorothy that she could’ve clicked her heels together this whole time, and she didn’t have to go on this big adventure. Glinda could’ve told her how to get home the moment she landed and killed that witch. But instead, Dorothy needed to learn the lesson that there’s no place like home and she should never want to leave home again. I wish she had just been flung by a gust of wind. 

Especially because the movie is all a dream! In the movie, she just wakes up in bed in black and white. Everyone’s there: Aunty Em, Uncle Henry, the weird psychic, and the three farmhands. Aunty Em says it was a bad dream. And Dorothy responds, “But it wasn’t a dream, it was a place. And you and you and you and you were there! But you couldn’t have been, have you?”

Well, according to the Oz lore, including the prequel book Wicked: The Life Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, they were all in the Land of Oz. 

But before we get into the Broadway Show Based on a Book Based on a Movie Based on a Play Based on a Book, I would like to talk about Judy Garland’s terrible time on the set of The Wizard of Oz. 

Of the film’s 10 main cast members, 16-year-old star Judy Garland got the second-lowest salary of $500 a week. The lowest salary went to Terry..who played Toto. Co-stars like Ray Bolger (Scarecrow) and Jack Haley (Tin Man) made about $3,000 for the same period.

Judy was also put on a strict diet of chicken soup, black coffee, and four packs of cigarettes a day to lose weight.

Director Victor Fleming also slapped Judy because she wouldn’t stop giggling. God forbid a 16-year-old was giggling on the set of a magical film while she’s also deluded from malnutrition. 

They also made her take 'pep pills' to control her appetite. She was already using these for her roles in other films, but she increased her dosage of amphetamines and barbiturates to stay as slim as possible for the role of Dorothy since the producer Louis B Mayer pressured her to stay in shape. 

Judy wasn’t the only one suffering on set. Because this movie is older than dirt, the costumes were made in extremely dangerous ways. For example, the lion costume was made of real lion fur, which is pretty nuts in and of itself, but because they were filming under technicolor lights, the actor was suffering intense heat the entire time while filming. 

Buddy Ebsen, who played the Original Tinman, ingested aluminum into his lungs because of the makeup and materials used for his costume. This was during filming, and the producers were furious he got sick, so they replaced him with Jack Haley and changed the aluminum makeup, which still caused him to have a serious eye infection. 

The scarecrow’s costume was layered and flame-proofed with asbestos since the scarecrow catches fire multiple times in the movie. 

If that wasn’t enough, all the actors who played Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion were banned from eating lunch inside the MGM cafeteria because the sight of them eating in their makeup was deemed too disgusting.

Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch, was set on fire before Dorothy threw that bucket of water on her. Her eyelashes and eyebrow on her right eye had been burned off, and her upper lip and eyelid were badly burned. Her skin was burnt off of her hand, and she passed out on set. 

The studio called the next day, wondering when she would be coming back. It took her six weeks to recover, and even after that, the nerves in her hand were still so exposed that she had to wear green gloves rather than makeup. She didn’t sue because she wanted to work again. 

While this is the most famous and probably most harmful movie adaptation, there are 25 direct adaptations of The Wizard of Oz, 10 films related to the original story, and 17 different TV shows related to the story. The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz was a direct-to-tv movie released in 2005 starring Ashanti as Dorothy, Queen Latifah as Aunt Em, and David Alan Grier as Uncle Henry. Miss Piggy plays the Good Witch. Quentin Tarantino makes a cameo as himself in the movie, too, for some reason. 

Besides the 1939 version, I believe The Wiz is the most well-known adaption which rewrites the original story. The Wiz premiered as a Broadway musical in 1974. The 1975 production won 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. 

The movie adaptation was released in 1978. The film follows Diana Ross as Dorothy, a young teacher in Harlem who is magically transported to Oz and introduced to three new friends: Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow, Nipsey Russell as the Tin Man, and Ted Ross as the Lion. 

Broadway Show Based on a Book Based on a Movie Based on a Play Based on a Book

This book is titled Wicked: The Life Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and it’s the first novel in Gregory Maguire’s book series, The Wicked Years. It follows, obviously, the life of the Wicked Witch of the West. 

It follows her family from before she was born to after Dorothy kills her. The book was released in 1995, followed by Son of a Witch, published in 2005; A Lion Among Men, published in 2008; and Out of Oz, published in 2011. 

Unlike the source material and its Broadway and movie adaptations, this novel is NOT directed at children. It contains a lot of adult language and content, including violent imagery and sexual situations. 

The Broadway show inspired by the book was released in 2003 titled Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. Its original production premiered on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre in October 2003. The music and lyrics for Wicked were written by Stephen Schwartz, and the book was written by Winnie Holzman.

Its original stars included Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda, Norbert Leo Butz as Fiyero, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. If you can believe it or not, the show was a hit. 

The original Broadway production won a total of 3 Tony Awards and 7 Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award. In 2016, Wicked surpassed $1 billion in total Broadway revenue. The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King are the only other Broadway shows to do so. In 2017, Wicked surpassed The Phantom of the Opera and became Broadway's second-highest-grossing musical, with The Lion King at number one. 

Originally, Maguire wanted the book to be adapted into a movie, but in 1998, Schwartz persuaded Maguire to release the rights to a stage production. But Maguire got his wish. In November 2024, Wicked Part I, the fantastical, magical movie musical production, was released. 

The film was directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, and we all know it starred Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda. Wicked Part Two will be coming out in November of this year. 

Winnie Holzman wrote both the book of the musical Wicked and the screenplays for the movie adaptations. So, the storylines between the Wicked Broadway show and the movie musical are extremely similar. 

Most lines are the same in both the Broadway show and the movie musical, but the movie musical is way more dramatic and magical because it’s a movie. This reminds me of how Stand By Me is pretty much an exact adaption of Stephen King’s The Body. 

Here are some things I noticed in the first act of the Broadway show and the first part of the movie musical series that was different than the book. Please note that I will be referring to the Broadway show and movie musical as “the musical,” so just know if I say the musical, I am talking about both the Broadway show and movie musical unless I state otherwise. 

While Elphaba and Nessarose’s father is the Mayor of Munchkinland in the musical, he’s a unionist minister in the book. In the book, Elphaba’s mom is the royal one as she is the granddaughter of the Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland.

She technically married down by marrying their father, and this is why she was unhappy in her marriage. Either way, she’s unhappy and cheats with a mysterious man who gives her a green miracle elixir, and her mother keeps the bottle that the elixir came in. 

They aren’t singing when Elphaba is born, either. While her mother is giving birth, her father is being attacked by an angry mob for being a religious zealot, and Elphie is born inside a device called The Clock of the Time Dragon, which I believe is what they think started the world. Some people believe it was the Wizard, and others believe it was this Clock and something called the Unnamed God. I think? The book is very confusing. 

But just like in the movie, she is born green. Except she’s much scarier in the book. She is born with sharp teeth, and she bites everyone and everything. This is so bad that she has to wear a muzzle like a rabid dog. She’s so much cuter in the movie. 

In the book, Elphie’s father leaves to spread the teachings of their Unnamed God because he’s a minister and believes Elphaha is a punishment for something. While he’s gone, a man named Turtle Heart comes to stay with them, and, uh oh, their mother gets pregnant with another man’s baby again! 

Well, they aren’t sure who’s the father of the baby. But Nessarose is just as religious as her father, so he prefers Nessa over Elphaba, just like in the musical. 

In the musical, Nessarose uses a wheelchair, but in the book, Nessarose doesn’t have arms, in addition to not being able to walk. These were both caused by her mother eating stuff she shouldn’t have while pregnant to decrease the chances of Nessa being green. 

In the book, Elphaba was the one going to Shiz. Nessa is younger, so she comes to Shiz later on in the book. In the movie, Nessarose is the one going to Shiz. Elphie only goes after accidentally showing her powers, and Madame Morrible extends the invitation. 

In the Broadway show, Elphaba is already going to school with Nessa to look after her. Their father already planned on Elphie going to school with Nessa, and Madame Morrible is the one who calls Nessa tragically beautiful and almost barfs at the sight of Elphie, who then calls herself beautifully tragic. 

Elphaba still does the “let her go” moment and exposes her magic, but Madame Morrible doesn't claim to have done it instead, everyone realizes she’s magic. Madame Morrible is still obsessed with her and teaches her sorcery one-on-one, which is a bit different than what happens in the book, but we will discuss that later. 

In the book, Elphaba and Boq become friends before anyone else meets Boq, and he is the son of a Mayor, not Elphaba. He still has a crush on Galinda and hopes that by being friends with Elphaba, he can become more than friends with Galinda. She still doesn’t care about him, though. 

In both the book and musical, Elphie cares about helping the Animals, and they all have Dr. Dillamond’s class together. In the musical, Dr. Dillamond teaches his students about  “the great drought” as an explanation of why the Animals are being ridiculed and imprisoned. I don’t remember this plot point being the book, but I believe it’s in Out of Oz, the fourth and final book of The Wizard Years book series. 

In the musical, Dr. Dillamond is taken captive by the Wizard’s army. In the book, Madame Morrible’s servant kills Doctor Dillamond, which is witnessed by Galinda’s chaperone, so Madame Morrible casts a spell to drive her crazy. As she’s losing it, she admits to Galinda that she saw the murder, and after she dies, Glinda changes her name to honor Dr. Dillamond. She changes it in the musical in honor of Dr. Dillamond, but it’s for a bit of a different reason. 

In the book, Fiyero and Nessarose don’t show up until after Doctor Dillamond is killed. Fiyero also has blue diamond tattoos across his entire body. He’s still considered sexy and cool because he is a Vinkus Prince. But he doesn’t look anything like Jonathon Bailey or anyone who has ever played Fiyero in the musical. 

In the musical, Fiyero and Elphie kidnap the lion cub from Dr. Dillamonds replacement teacher during class. In the book, it’s multiple people kidnapping the lion cub, not just Elphie and Fiyero. In the movie version, Elphie gets mad and makes the poppies fly around, which makes everyone fall asleep. In the musical, Elphie gets mad, and everyone starts dancing and almost seizing instead of falling asleep. 

When Nessarose is introduced in the book, she has those special shoes, just like in the musical! But in the book, the shoes don’t belong to their mother. Instead, they were made by their dad with a technique he learned from Turtle Heart. 

In the musical, Madame Morrible only recognizes Elphaba’s magical potential and writes to the Wizard, who writes to Elphie, asking her to come to the Emerald City. However, in the book, Madame Morrible orders Elphaba, Glinda, and Nessarose to become silent pawns of the Wizard. She calls them his “ambassadors of peace.” 

Madame Morrible recommends that Elphaba go east, Glinda go north, Nessarose go south, and no one goes west because there weren’t many people living there. Elphaba is reluctant, but Glinda is interested in this power. This is annoying in the book because they can’t talk about the proposition. Madame Morrible put a spell on them to prevent them from being able to talk about this without her present. 

In the book, Elphie and Glinda still travel to the Emerald City, where Elphie still pleads with the Wizard about the Animals being treated unfairly. However, when the Wizard dismisses their concerns, Elphaba stays in the Emerald City to begin her revolution against the Wizard, and Glinda returns to school, and the next chapter begins five years later. 

In the musical, it’s a bit more confrontational after the Wizard admits to being just a guy and Elphie accidentally gives monkeys wings because she has powers. 

Now, I will start discussing part two, so if you do not want to learn what happens in the second part and act of Wicked, please stop reading. 

The first act in the musical ends with Elphaba Defying Gravity and the two witches parting ways. The second act starts back up with Glinda being Glinda the Good, working under Madame Morrible’s instructions. She announces that she is engaged to Fiyero, and he is shocked because he never proposed. 

The book is EXTREMELY different from the musical. For instance, Glinda is not engaged to Fiyero but rather married to Sir Chuffrey, and they are very wealthy. She is known for her philanthropy throughout Oz, and that’s why she is nicknamed Glinda the Good. 

Elphie stayed in the Emerald City to fight the Wizard and has made improvements in the Animal Revolution. She meets up with Fiyero again when he’s visiting Oz, but he is married with children. This doesn’t stop them because they get together romantically, which happens in the musical as well. In the musical, Fiyero is “captain of the guard” and leads the search for Elphie. Once he finds her, they start boning. But instead of cheating on his wife, Sarima, they are cheating on Glinda.

Madame Morrible suffers her fate a lot earlier in the book than in the musical. She isn’t imprisoned until the end of the musical, but in the book, Elphie plans on killing her, but is too late. She finds Madame Morrible dead and takes credit for her murder, even though she didn’t do it. This is a major turning point in the book. Because of this, the Wizard’s army kills Fiyero, and Elphaba hides with an old woman. Before I talk about her time with the old woman, let me tell you about Fiyero’s fate in the musical. 

Well into the second act, the Wizard’s army captures Elphie, and Fiyero comes to save her. She escapes, and the guards put Fiyero on a pole in the middle of a field until he tells them where Elphie went, can you guess where this is going? Elphie tries to cast a spell from the Grimmerie to save Fiyero, but she turns him into a scarecrow in the process. 

But, like I said, that doesn’t happen in the book. Fiyero is killed, and Elphaba lives with an old woman where Elphie lays unconscious for almost a year and then mute for 6 more years. So, a total of seven years go by before Elphie decides to go see Fiyero’s wife and kids and stays with them in Fiyero’s castle in Kiamo Ko, which was such a weird part of the book. Elphie has a random kid, and she doesn’t know if he’s her and Fiyero’s son because she was unconscious for a year after they last boned, but either way, Fiyero’s other children are so mean to him. 

They bully him so bad that Elphaba, or her possible son, I’m honestly not sure, one of them uses their powers to kill one of Fiyero’s mean children. As weird as it is, this part of the book is important because this is where she finds the Grimmerie, which is the book of spells only she can read. In the musical, the Wizard and Madame Morrible have Elphaba read the Grimmerie, and then she accidentally gives the monkeys their wings. 

In the book, Elphaba is only reunited with her sister Nessarose after Elphaba gets a letter from their dad asking her to come talk some sense into Nessarose because she is now the Eminent Thropp of Munchkinland but nicknamed the Wicked Witch of the East because she’s having a religious psychosis moment. Elphie goes to talk some sense into Nessa, but she can’t, so she returns to Fiyero’s castle and finds all of his family gone. The Wizard’s army took them away, and she is alone. 

In the musical, Elphie is reunited with Nessa because she wants to ask Nessa to ask their father to support Elphie in her revolution against the Wizard. But Nessa tells her their father is dead, and she is now Governor of Munchkinland. In the book and play, Nessarose is abusing her power and stripping the munchkinlanders of their rights. 

In the play, Nessa is mad that Elphie hasn’t helped her with her powers, so Elphie does a spell that gives powers to Nessa’s special shoes that help her walk. In the book, this is done by Glinda. The actual act isn’t described in the book. Instead, Elphie just comes back to see Nessa able-bodied, and Nessa tells her Glinda did the spell. 

I should also mention that this is when we find out that Boq is a servant to Nessarose in the musical. In the book, he’s married and living with his wife and children. He even lets a little girl named Dorothy stay over at his house on her way to the Wizard. But he’s not happy with his life in the musical. 

After Nessarose reveals she can walk, Boq admits his heart belongs to Glinda, and now that Nessa can walk, she doesn't need him, so he has to tell Glinda how he feels. However, Nessarose won’t let that happen, so she finds a magic spell in the Grimmerie, which she can’t read correctly, and accidentally shrinks Boq’s heart. In an attempt to save him, Elphie casts another spell, which turns him into a tin man with no heart. Of course, Nessarose blames Elphaba for this.

Let’s get back to the book. So, seven years pass after Elphie returns to Fiyero’s castle and finds that his entire family has been taken prisoner. We pick back up after the house drops on Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East, and Glinda sends Dorothy down the yellow brick road to ask the Wizard how to send her back home to Kansas. In the book, it’s simply a random storm, but in the musical, it is much different. 

In the musical, Glinda tells Madame Morrible and the Wizard that the way to catch Elphie is to start a rumor that Nessa is in trouble and she will come out of hiding. But Madame Morrible knows Elphie is too smart to believe a rumor, so she changes the weather and causes a little girl to get lifted from Kansas and flown to Oz to drop her house on Nessarose.

In both the book and musical, Elphie and Glinda meet up after Nessa is killed and Dorothy is walking the yellow brick road. At first, everything is going fine. But, in the book, Elphie goes into an angry fit of rage when she finds out Glinda gave away her sister’s magic shoes. In the musical, she gets pissed because Glinda accepts the twister as a weird twist of fate, while Elphie knows something more sinister is responsible. 

In the musical, we are reintroduced to Boq as the Tinman, and he introduces everyone to the Cowardly Lion, who has a score to settle with Elphie because she took him from the lab when he was a cub and set him free. If she let him fight his own battles when he was young, he wouldn’t be so cowardly today. 

But none of that happens in the book. We don’t see much of Dorothy and her friends, and we surely don’t know where each of them comes from. Elphaba finds out Dorothy and her friends are on their way to kill her under orders of the Wizard, and just like in the children’s book, the witch sends vicious dogs and bees that the Tinman kills and crows that the Scarecrow scares away. Elphie thinks for a moment that the Scarecrow could be Fiyero, but once she sends these attacks, it’s confirmed that it is just a scarecrow. 

When we do meet Dorothy in the book, she tells the witch she is sorry for killing her sister and begs for forgiveness. But the witch waves her broom, sets herself on fire, and Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her to save her life. But she melts. 

This happens off-stage, or rather, in the shadows in the musical. They put up a sheet with a light so we see the shadow of Dorothy throw water on the witch. In the musical, Elphie and Glinda makeup before she’s killed since Glinda realizes that Madame Morrible was responsible for the twister. Before Elphie’s killed, she tells Glinda not to tell anyone the truth about her because they will only turn on Glinda too. Elphie gives Glinda the Grimmerie and tells her that she’ll have to learn it so she can do good with it.

In the musical, Glinda brings the green potion bottle Elphaba had from her mom, and the Wizard realizes he is Elphaba’s father. He then realizes he killed his daughter and breaks down in tears. Glinda tells him he must take a leave of absence, and she is in charge now. So she tells him to get his balloon ready for a trip, and she imprisons Madame Morrible. 

In the book, Dorothy brings the bottle. The ending of the book is up for interpretation. Rumors spread about Dorothy returning to Kansas, and the Wizard plans his departure from Oz and makes it seem like he will be killing himself when he returns to America. 

The last lines of the book imply that Elphaba will rise from the ashes someday: "And there the wicked old Witch stayed for a good long time." "And did she ever come out?" "Not yet."

The ending of the musical is not up for interpretation because Fiyero opens a latch on the stage, and Elphaba pops out. Elphie and Fiyero live happily ever after! But Glinda isn’t allowed to know, which is very hard for Elphie. 

I told you the book was different than the musical. 

Stars of the Show Love to Show Love to Each Other 

It’s truly heartbreaking that the two besties aren’t living happily ever after together. They went through so much together, but although they can’t be together because they knew each other, they have been changed for good, just like the stars of the Broadway productions and the movie musical. 

I think we all know by now that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande pulled a Drew Barrymore and got uncomfortably close during the filming and press tour for this movie. Ariana and Ethan got close too, but we’re not going to talk about that. 

Instead, we will quickly talk about how everyone who worked on Wicked is obsessed with each other, and I understand why. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel talk about how the original stage production was never supposed to be a story of friendship between Glinda and Elphaba. 

The only loving and meaningful relationship was meant to be between Fiyero and Elphaba, but the two women couldn’t help but connect and build a strong friendship on and off stage. In this interview, Idina and Kristin start complimenting each other so much that it sounds like a compliment-off, and they are competing against each other. 

Ariana and Cynthia are laughing at them because it’s exactly what they do. They are just so unbelievably supportive of each other, even if it looks odd. For instance, they all sob hysterically throughout this interview and hold hands the entire time. There are also a lot of compilation videos of Idina and Kristin being close and having weird moments together, just like the compilations of Ariana and Cynthia, and I just feel like that's part of the Wicked journey. 

All jokes aside, the performers getting close is not surprising at all. Not only did these performers work incredibly hard in incredibly close quarters, but the actors in the movie also all have some sort of personal connection to the show. 

Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, and Jeff Goldblum were on the Kelly Clarkshow Show to talk about the movie. Cynthia Erivo talked about how she took herself on a birthday date to see Wicked for the first time when she was 25, and I just thought that was so sweet. As someone whose family and friends are not big musical theater fans, that story tugs on my heartstrings.

The cast also discussed the actual production of the film. Ariana talks about how they all got to “play” with the material, which made the set very fun. They also requested certain people be in the movie, like Bowen Yang and Michelle Yeoh, so it’s not surprising that they had the best time on set and all fell in love with each other. 

Ariana Grande also told Kelly Clarkson that they wanted to sing live because it allowed this playfulness to happen naturally and allowed for different takes, which led to some really funny scenes. Ariana also said they felt like they had to do it in solidarity with the girls on Broadway who do it live 8 shows a week.  

Ariana and Cynthia also do a matching tattoo tour in this interview. Ariana and Cynthia both have “for good” tattooed on their hands, so when they hold hands, they touch. They both have poppies, which I love. Cynthia also has a hat and broom. Ariana has a tattoo for Glinda, and they have hearts on the back of their legs as well. 

We can all joke about the closeness of these stars, but it does make sense. If you are working so hard on something you are so passionate about, it’s natural to bond with those who are working on the same thing. 

I am a local reporter, and I recently covered a story on a small production that doesn’t even begin to compare to Wicked, but those performers even talked about how close you get with people when you are working hard in creating a production. Creating art bonds people and creates community. 

Moral of the Story

This show explores the magical, wonderful Land of Oz while exploring serious topics and teaching a valuable lesson. 

During the interview with Kelly Clarkson, Kelly talked about how the book truly explores what happens when you think you know what’s happening, but in reality, you don’t know the full story. You’re not in their shoes. 

Gregory Maguire sat down with a news outlet based out of Boston to discuss the Wicked film and his original book. 

Maguire revealed that he was inspired to create this story because he watched the Wizard of Oz movie frequently as a child. After watching it many times, he realized that the Wizard was way scarier than the Wicked Witch. She might be green and evil, but at least she’s honest about it. 

The Wicked Witch never lied to Dorothy. She did exactly what she said she was going to do and told Dorothy exactly what she wanted. The Wizard didn’t do that. Instead, he pretended to be a great and powerful being and sent a 12-year-old to kill a Wicked Witch. Now that’s scary. 

Maguire also talked about how he lived in fear most of his childhood because of the Vietnam War. He was terrified to grow up and be drafted to kill the Wicked Witch in Vietnam. He said, “So, in a way, the power structure of who gets to make the decisions and who has to carry out the campaigns just sort of became part of the substratum of my moral thinking about authority and about power. I think the story of Wicked began by watching the film and by ingesting and digesting what it was saying about power structures.” 

Maguire also explained how his father’s career as a journalist influenced his writing. He explained that his father was so dedicated to remaining unbiased that he forbade his children from talking about politics and current events at the dinner table. This sheltered Maguire and led to a bit of a shock when he finally left home and moved to Boston. 

To me, this shines a little light on Glinda’s character and how some can choose to live in ignorant bliss and not care when Animals are being imprisoned. Others don’t have that privilege and cannot ignore what’s going on because it impacts them or people like them. 

Elphaba was not wicked but rather had wickedness thrust upon her. She was made to be an enemy so those in power could remain in power. And nobody in all of Oz has any idea that they were being lied to by their leaders. Instead, they are led to believe the Grand Wizard is still grand, just making a grand departure, and that twister just so happened to land perfectly on the Wicked Witch of the East. 

In the musical, the Wizard sings a song titled “Wonderful,” which describes how he came down in his balloon and everyone in Oz thought he was magical, so they began worshiping him and he just let him because he wanted power and he also wanted to be a dad…I guess? Anyway, I believe this song really touches on the ideas that Maguire wrote in his book and even connects to what inspired him as a child. 

After the Wizard admits to lying to the people who he is supposed to lead and take care of, Elphaba calls him out on being a bad person, and he sings:

Where I’m from

We believe all sorts of things that aren't true

We call it ‘history’

A man's called a traitor or liberator

A rich man's a thief or philanthropist

Is one a crusader or ruthless invader?

It's all in which label is able to persist

There are precious few at ease

With moral ambiguities

So, we act as though they don't exist 

Wicked is a timeless story that will live on for generations, just like the original Wizard of Oz. Not only because it’s a classic children’s story with sorcery, wonder, and witches but also because its powerful message resonates with people in vulnerable communities. 

People who feel different. People who want nothing more than to be accepted and seen as equal to others. People who feel powerless but have strength and power deep within them. 

There’s often discussion on people using entertainment and art to distract from the serious issues in the world. Afterall, it’s only politics, what’s that got to do with us? 

Everything. It has everything to do with us and everything to do with performing and art in general. That being said, with everything happening in the world, remember that there is power in art and in writing. There is power is happiness and hope. There is power is doing and being good.