''Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'' is an American novel published in 1995, written by
Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many ...
with illustrations by Douglas Smith. It is the first in ''
The Wicked Years
''The Wicked Years'' is a series of novels by Gregory Maguire that present a revisionist take on L. Frank Baum's ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', its 1939 film adaptation, and related books.
This is a very different and cynical look at Oz than ...
'' series, and was followed by ''
Son of a Witch
''Son of a Witch'' (2005) is a fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire. The book is Maguire’s fifth revisionist story and the second set in the land of Oz originally conceived by L. Frank Baum. ''Son of a Witch'' continues the story af ...
'' (published in September 2005), ''
A Lion Among Men
''A Lion Among Men'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire, the third book in his ''The Wicked Years'' series. It was released in the UK on October 2, 2008, October 8 in the US, and on October 14, 2008 in the rest of Europe.
Pri ...
'' (published in October 2008), and ''
Out of Oz
''Out of Oz'' is the fourth and final novel in Gregory Maguire's ''The Wicked Years'' and was released on November 1, 2011. ''Out of Oz'' brings a conclusion to the narratives spread across ''The Wicked Years'' while providing a revisionist look ...
'' (published in November 2011). In 2003, it was adapted as the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
-winning
Broadway musical
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
''
Wicked
Wicked may refer to:
Books
* Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe
* ''Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name
* ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' ser ...
''. The musical is in the process of being adapted into a feature film.
''Wicked'' is a
revisionist exploration of the characters and
setting
Setting may refer to:
* A location (geography) where something is set
* Set construction in theatrical scenery
* Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction
* Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...
of the 1900 novel ''
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...
'' by
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...
, its sequels, and the
1939 film adaptation. It is presented as a
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
of the
Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
, here given the name "Elphaba." The book follows Elphaba from her birth as the result of a rape through her radicalization, social ostracism, and finally her death at the hands of
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of its ...
. Maguire shows the traditionally villainous character in a sympathetic light, using her journey to explore the problem of evil and the "nature versus nurture" debate, as well as themes of terrorism, propaganda, and life purpose.
Background
Maguire began contemplating the nature of
evil
Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...
while living in London in the early 1990s. He noticed that while the problem of evil had been explored from many different perspectives, those perspectives were seldom synthesized together.
He wondered whether calling a person evil might be enough to cause a
self-fulfilling prophecy
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's or group of persons' belief or expectation that said prediction would come true. This suggests that people's beliefs influence their actions. ...
.
If everyone was always calling you a bad name, how much of that would you internalize? How much of that would you say, all right, go ahead, I'll be everything that you call me because I have no capacity to change your minds anyway so why bother. By whose standards should I live?
He was also inspired by the 1993
murder of James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger (16 March 1990 – 12 February 1993) was a two-year-old boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was child abduction, abducted, tortured, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson (born 23 August 1982) and Jon ...
, in which both victim and perpetrators were young children.
Everyone was asking: how could those boys be so villainous? Were they born evil or were there circumstances that pushed them towards behaving like that? It propelled me back to the question of evil that bedevils anybody raised Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
Up to that point strictly a children's author, Maguire had difficulty finding an effective way to write about evil, since in his mind, there were no truly evil characters in children's literature. In what he later described as "the one great revelation of my life," Maguire realized that there were in fact villains in children's books; however, they were usually written as one-dimensional
stock character
A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...
s in order to provoke a quick emotional reaction from young readers. Wondering whom to write about, he envisioned the Wicked Witch of the West, as played by
Margaret Hamilton in the MGM film, delivering her iconic line, "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" Maguire had a lifelong fascination with ''The'' ''Wizard of Oz'', both Baum's original novel and the film, which he watched every year during its annual broadcast.
He decided to tell the Wicked Witch's life story using the same large scale and broad moral messages found in the novels of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
.
Plot
In the
Land of Oz
The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadli ...
, a minister's wife, Melena Thropp, gives birth to a daughter, Elphaba. Elphaba has green skin, sharp teeth, a savage demeanor, and a fear of water. The story details Elphaba's difficult childhood before flashing forward to show her at
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
in the city of Shiz with her roommate, the social climber Galinda.
While at Shiz, the two girls discover that Oz is rife with political tension. The Wizard rules as a dictator and has stripped the sentient Animals of their
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
. Inspired by her favorite professor, a Goat named Doctor Dillamond, Elphaba works to prove that sentient Animals deserve social status equal to humans. When Doctor Dillamond dies under mysterious circumstances, Galinda adopts his mispronunciation of her name, Glinda.
Shiz headmistress and Ozian power broker Madame Morrible suggests that Elphaba and Glinda work for her from behind the scenes to help stabilize the political situation in Oz. Preferring more direct action, Elphaba and Glinda travel to the
Emerald City
The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900).
Fictional description
Located in the center of the La ...
, where they meet the
Wizard and plead the case of the Animals. When the Wizard dismisses their concerns, Elphaba takes matters into her own hands. She goes into hiding and joins an underground terrorist group working out of the Emerald City.
Five years later, Elphaba reconnects with former schoolmate Fiyero, now a Prince with three children, and the two begin an illicit
affair
An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...
. Fiyero is caught in Elphaba's hideout and arrested by the Wizard's secret police force. Blaming herself for his capture, Elphaba takes refuge in a
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
. Seven years later, she visits Fiyero's family at their castle, Kiamo Ko, in hopes of gaining their forgiveness. She brings along a boy named Liir, her son by Fiyero. Fiyero's family allow her to stay as their guest, but his widow Sarima refuses to hear her apology. While there, Elphaba begins to study sorcery and gains a reputation as a
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
.
Elphaba's father asks for her help with her sister Nessarose, who has also become a witch and has taken Elphaba's hereditary position as ruler of
Munchkinland
Munchkin Country or Munchkinland, as it is referred to in the famous MGM musical film version, is the fictional eastern region of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Munchkin Count ...
. Tired of being used as a pawn in other people's agendas, Elphaba declines her father's request. Nessarose promises to give Elphaba her enchanted silver shoes after she dies. When Elphaba returns to Kiamo Ko, she discovers the Wizard's troops have taken Fiyero's family prisoner.
Seven years later, a storm visits Munchkinland, dropping a farmhouse on Nessarose and killing her. The farmhouse's passengers are a little girl named
Dorothy Gale
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of its ...
and her dog,
Toto. Glinda sends Dorothy off with Nessarose's shoes for fear of their power igniting a civil war in Munchkinland. Elphaba is furious, as the shoes were rightfully hers.
Elphaba meets with the Wizard to beg for the release of Fiyero and his family. The Wizard explains that he has killed them all except for Fiyero's daughter Nor, who he keeps as a slave. He explains that he comes from a different world and is not bound by the laws of Oz. After the unsuccessful meeting, Elphaba learns that the Wizard is her biological father, making her the child of two different worlds and thus destined never to fit in anywhere.
When Dorothy and her friends arrive at Kiamo Ko, she tells Elphaba that while the Wizard sent her with orders to "kill the witch", Dorothy came to apologize for killing her sister. Furious that Dorothy is asking for the forgiveness she herself has been denied, Elphaba waves her burning broom in the air and inadvertently sets her skirt on fire. Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her to save her. Instead, the water melts her away.
Dorothy returns to the Wizard with a green bottle, which he recognizes as the potion he used to drug Melena. The Wizard departs the Emerald City mere hours before a coup would have overthrown and killed him. The book ends with political chaos reigning over Oz.
Major characters
*
Elphaba Thropp: The
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
of the book, Elphaba is a green-skinned girl who later becomes known as the
Wicked Witch of the West
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character who appears in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900), created by American author L. Frank Baum. In Baum's subsequent ''Oz'' novels, it is the Nome King who is ...
. Later in the book, it is revealed that she is the daughter of The Wizard. The Wicked Witch of the West is not given a name in Baum's novels; Maguire derived the name Elphaba from Baum's initials, LFB.
*
Galinda Arduenna Upland (later Glinda): Elphaba's roommate at Shiz University, who eventually becomes the Good Witch of the North. She hates Elphaba at first, but they later become close friends.
*
Nessarose Thropp: Elphaba's younger sister, who eventually becomes known as "the
Wicked Witch of the East
The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial
character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of List of Oz books, ''Oz'' novels, most notably ''The Won ...
." Nessarose was born without arms, but is extremely beautiful, causing Elphaba to resent her.
*Fiyero Tigelaar: The prince of the Arjiki tribe, in the Vinkus. He meets Elphaba at Shiz and later has an affair with her while she is involved in the resistance movement against the Wizard of Oz.
*The
Wizard of Oz: The book's main
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...
. The Wizard is a human who came to Oz from Earth in a hot air balloon. He was originally seeking the Grimmerie, but discovered he could orchestrate a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
and take power for himself.
* Madame Morrible: Headmistress of Shiz University's Crage Hall, which Elphaba and Galinda attend, and a behind-the-scenes power broker in Ozian politics.
* Dr. Dillamond: Elphaba's mentor and favorite professor at Shiz. A Goat who is later assassinated as part of the Wizard's campaign against sentient Animals.
* Melena Thropp: The mother of Elphaba, Nessarose, and their brother Shell
* Frexspar: Melena's husband, a traveling minister
Themes
Nature of evil
According to author Maguire, ''Wicked'' is primarily about identifying with someone who is ostracized.
''
The Gazette
The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...
'' called ''Wicked'' "a cautionary tale...about what happens when we as a society decide to label anyone who differs from the norm as evil."
Prior to writing ''Wicked'', Maguire became interested in examining the nature of evil from the perspective of someone considered evil.
He noted that while Baum had deliberately avoided using traditional fairy tale characters in writing the original novel, the Wicked Witch of the West was the sole exception, being depicted as the stereotypical "witch in her castle" figure, with wickedness her single defining character trait. The novel raises the question of whether evil is
inborn or acquired. Elphaba is a social outcast despite being of noble birth, which makes her question how much power she truly has over her own life.
Propaganda and terrorism
Writing for ''
The American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'', Rebecca Onion called ''Wicked'' "an extended meditation on power and politics."
Maguire has noted the similarities between the words "wicked" and "
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
," calling it "no accident" that he chose this title for his book. He recalled reading a newspaper headline in 1991 comparing
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and feeling firsthand the emotional power of propaganda.
Maguire "set out to examine the language and propaganda used to marshal brute force against individuals or minorities that might have been opposed to the war." In the book, one major plank of the Wizard's agenda involves the subjugation of sentient Animals
and Madame Morrible promotes this idea using a type of moralistic poem called a "quell." Elphaba instantly sees the propaganda for what it is.
''Tor'' noted that
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, committed both by and against the state, plays a major role in the second half of the book. The Wizard keeps an
SS-like
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
, the Gale Force, which uses violence to carry out his totalitarian agenda. Elphaba similarly uses terrorism to combat them,
though she shies away from targeting children.
Life purpose
A lifelong Catholic, Maguire remembered the nuns who taught in the
Catholic school
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...
s of his boyhood home of
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
. He admired their sense of purpose and dedication to their cause, saying that their integrity and inscrutability made them witches in his mind. Elphaba discovers her own purpose as a student at Shiz University, where the murder of her favorite professor, Dr. Dillamond, inspires her to join the cause of Animal rights.
As the story progresses, she deepens her commitment to her cause, becoming a political exile for her beliefs.
As revisionist literature
''Wicked'' is on its face a revisionist
parallel novel
A parallel novel is an in-universe (but often non-canonical) pastiche (or sometimes sequel) piece of literature written within, derived from, or taking place during the framework of another work of fiction by the same or another author with resp ...
for ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' compared it to ''
Wide Sargasso Sea
''Wide Sargasso Sea'' is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel ''Jane Eyre'' (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from t ...
'' and ''
Wild Wood
''Wild Wood'' is the second solo studio album by Paul Weller, released in September 1993. It made it to number 2 on the UK Albums Chart, and contained four UK hits: "Wild Wood (Paul Weller song), Wild Wood", which reached number 14 on the UK c ...
'' as part of "a fascinating sub-genre of novels that revisit well-known stories as much in the spirit of criticism as homage."
While previous authors had accepted the existing moral framework of the Oz stories, ''Wicked'' showed affection for the originals while simultaneously questioning everything they stood for. Maguire presents a sympathetic view of a villainous character by detailing her life story and helping the reader understand how "an innocent if rather green and biting child" can become "a still moralistic terrorist."
He also transformed the Land of Oz itself, changing what he saw as an insular, parochial world into one where different groups and their political agendas intersect and overlap.
Reception
''Wicked'' received mostly positive reviews. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' called it a "fantastical meditation on good and evil, God and free will" which combined "puckish humor and bracing pessimism." ''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' called it "A captivating, funny, and perceptive look at destiny, personal responsibility, and the not-always-clashing beliefs of faith and magic." ''
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'' recommended the book to "good readers who like satire, and love exceedingly imaginative and clever fantasy." The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' favorably compared ''Wicked'' with other "fantasy novels of ideas" such as
''Gormenghast'' and
''Dune''.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' was a notable outlier, criticizing the novel's strident politics and moral relativism. Reviewer
Michiko Katutani argued that Maguire "shows little respect for Baum's original story." ''Wicked'', she felt, "turns a wonderfully spontaneous world of fantasy into a lugubrious allegorical realm, in which everything and everyone is labeled with a topical name tag."
Adaptations
In 2003, the novel was adapted as the Broadway musical
''Wicked'' by composer/lyricist
Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin'' (1972), and ''Wicked'' (20 ...
and librettist
Winnie Holzman
Winnie Holzman (born August 18, 1954 in Manhattan) is an American dramatist, screenwriter, and poet. She is known for having created the ABC television series ''My So-Called Life'', which led to a nomination for a scriptwriting Emmy Award in 1995, ...
. The musical was produced by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
and directed by
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on Broadway productions of ''Wicked'', '' Take Me Out'', and ''Assassins'', having gained notoriety in the 1993 cast of ''Angels in America''.
Early li ...
, with musical staging by
Wayne Cilento
Wayne Louis Cilento (born August 28, 1949) is an American director and choreographer. He is best known for originating the role of Mike in the Broadway show ''A Chorus Line'', and later becoming one of Broadway's most prolific choreographers.
B ...
. The Broadway production has inspired long-running productions in Chicago, London's West End, San Francisco, and Los Angeles in the United States, as well as Germany and Japan. It was nominated for ten
Tony Awards
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
, winning three, and is the 5th longest-running Broadway show in history, with over 7,200 performances. The original Broadway production starred
Idina Menzel
Idina Kim Menzel ( ; ; born May 30, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Particularly known for her work in musicals on the Broadway stage and having achieved mainstream success across stage, film and music, Menzel has garnered the honorif ...
as Elphaba and
as Glinda.
In a 2009 interview, Maguire stated that he had sold the rights to ABC to make an independent non-musical TV adaptation of ''Wicked''. It would not be based on
Winnie Holzman
Winnie Holzman (born August 18, 1954 in Manhattan) is an American dramatist, screenwriter, and poet. She is known for having created the ABC television series ''My So-Called Life'', which led to a nomination for a scriptwriting Emmy Award in 1995, ...
's script. On January 9, 2011, ''Entertainment Weekly'' reported that ABC would be teaming up with
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek Pinault ( , ; born Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez; September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well as the ...
and her production company to create a TV miniseries of ''Wicked'' based solely on Maguire's novel. The miniseries never entered production.
In September 2010, ''Filmshaft'' disclosed that Universal Pictures was beginning work on a film adaptation of the stage musical. In December 2012, following the success of ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...
'',
Marc Platt, also a producer of the stage version, announced the film was going ahead, later confirming the film was aiming for a 2016 release. Universal announced in 2016 that the film would be released in theaters on December 22, 2021, with
Stephen Daldry
Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received three ...
directing. After production was shut down during the 2020
Coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
,
Daldry left the production due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by
Jon M. Chu
Jonathan Murray Chu (born November 2, 1979) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of 2018's ''Crazy Rich Asians'', the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature a majority cast of Asi ...
.
Cynthia Erivo
Cynthia Erivo (; born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Grammy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Awa ...
and
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
were cast as Elphaba and Galinda, with rehearsals set to begin in July 2022.
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng, ( ; born 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian actress. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early Hong Kong films, she rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in a series of Hong Kong action films where she performed her own ...
was announced for the Madame Morrible role in December 2022.
In April 2022, it was announced that the film will be released in two parts, on Christmas Day in 2024 and 2025.
References
External links
GregoryMaguire.com - the author's official website, which includes a discussion forum.*
ttp://www.bookrags.com/Wicked_(novel) ''Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'' study guide
{{Gregory Maguire
1995 American novels
1995 fantasy novels
American fantasy novels
Dark fantasy novels
Novels by Gregory Maguire
Oz (franchise) books
Parallel literature
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wicked Years
HarperCollins books
American novels adapted into plays
Novels about rape
Witchcraft in written fiction