October may be over, but the season of the Witch continues! November 22nd, Wicked will be released in theatres to enormous anticipation. Starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, the gravity-defying story went from novel to enormously popular musical and will now find a home on screen.
To celebrate, here are ten things you didn’t know about the Wicked books and musical:
While many know that the musical Wicked is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, it is also the first book in a longer series. Known by fans as The Wicked Years books, there are three sequels, and Maguire is currently writing a fourth!
Maguire’s original intent was not to write a backstory for an iconic character but to pose a series of moral questions to his readers. Maguire states: “Why do we call some people evil, and what agency over them does it give us if we’re the good ones and they’re the bad ones? How does this leverage our self-permission to hurt them?”
After deciding on The Wicked Witch of the West as the vehicle for this moral quandary, Maguire knew he had to give her a name. “Only when she had a name would we actually have permission to care about her,” Maguire says. He decided on the name Elphaba as an homage to The Wizard of Oz author Lyman Frank Baum and his initials L.F.B—Elphaba!
Maguire knew he wanted to follow Elphaba from her birth to adulthood, when she disappears from the public eye, and therefore the story would require scenes that take place over multiple decades. For guidance, he turned to epic 19th-century novels such as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations.
Musical composer Stephen Schwartz first came across Maguire’s novel while on vacation with friends in Hawaii. When he returned home, the first thing he did was call his lawyer to obtain the rights.
When Maguire first met with Schwartz, he had to teach him how to correctly pronounce Elphaba’s name!
The name Elphaba isn’t the only subtle homage to The Wizard of Oz, Schwartz intentionally chose the first few notes of Elphaba’s recurring use of the words unlimited/I’m limited to be the same as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
Glinda’s wardrobe in the musical was directly inspired by Dior; the bubble dress in particular features delicate petals noticeably similar to Dior’s Junon Gown from the fashion house’s fall/winter 1949–50 haute couture collection.
A single stage performance of Wicked requires 250 pounds of dry ice to create the fog that fills the stage, and enough electricity to light 12 homes!
Wicked is the fourth longest-running show in Broadway history and the 10th longest-running show on London’s West End. By 2024, the show had grossed over $6 billion worldwide, making it one of the most successful musicals in history.
If you’re looking for ways to prep for the movie’s release, we highly recommend checking out Maguire’s Wicked Years series and trying your best to belt out the high note in “Defying Gravity.” And, of course, if you care to find us, look to the western sky.
For more information, check out…
London Theatre Direct, “15 Fun Facts About Wicked,” September 28, 2021.
Some Books Considered, “The Real Inspiration for ‘Wicked’ by Gregory Maguire,” October 21, 2024.
Defying Gravity
Combining the words “liberate” and “expanse,” the title of this work refers to emancipation and vast unknowns. Alice drifts weightlessly, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, symbolizing the creativity and innovation lying dormant within each of us. Did you have childhood dreams of flying or floating weightlessly?
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