The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum in 1900, which was later made into a movie, The Wizard of Oz, in 1939, tells the story of a young girl, Dorothy, who is lost in the Land of Oz, attempting to find her way home. As instructed by Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, Dorothy travels down the Yellow Brick Road, meeting others along the way, and is haunted by the Wicked Witch of the West. Dorothy and her friends reach the end of the road, meeting the Wizard of Oz who, it turns out, is not actually a wizard. At the end, Dorothy realizes that “there’s no place like home,” and taps together her ruby slippers three times, magically transporting her home (IMDb). Audiences are meant to despise the antagonist of the story: the Wicked Witch of the West; a green skinned, black robed, cackling woman. It would take over half a century for her story to be told. Wicked flips the script, revealing the “true” story behind the “wicked” witch.
Wicked started out as a novel, written in 1995 by Gregory Maguire (Goodreads) and, in 2003, debuted on Broadway as a musical (New York Theatre Guide). Freshman Alex Vlachos commented, “ I have never heard of it [the novel]; however, I have heard of the Broadway musical because I’ve seen it advertised in Times Square.” These spin-offs tell the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West, named ‘Elphaba’, describing her challenges in school, Shiz University, where she faced bullying for her green colored skin, and tells the story of her apparent friendship with Glinda. Recently, Wicked has been adapted into a movie, set to release on November 22. Mrs. Loccke, an English teacher, remarked that “Some stories remain relevant no matter how old they are and others can be retold through modern lenses that create new perspectives.”
Ariana Grande, a famous and influential American singer, plays Glinda, the popular and wealthy girl at school. Prior to becoming the Good Witch of the North, Glinda attended Shiz University with Elphaba, where they forged an unexpected friendship. Grande has acted in films before, though she mainly focuses on her music career. Mrs. Loccke again added that, “There has been such a media blitz around the movie that it is hard to imagine it [the actors] any other way. I do think Ariana Grande definitely reminds me of the 1939 film version of Glinda. I think people always have criticism about big lavish blockbuster roles like these, but I will have to see it to truly comment.” Elphaba, the soon to be Wicked Witch of the West, is played by Cynthia Erivo. Erivo has acted in a number of recent films, such as Harriet and Pinocchio (NBC).
Wicked has been in the works for a long time; the first announcement for the movie was released in 2016 (Teenvogue). A series of delays have pushed it back, but “This creates higher expectations because they’ve had more time to produce the movie, so it should be better quality,” according to Alex Vlachos.
Wicked is set to release on Friday, November 22. Will it disappoint or defy gravity? Only time will tell.
