How Do ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Connect? Us Explains

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are the latest stars to step into the iconic roles of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West, but how does their film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked connect to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz?

Even the OG movie — which starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Margaret Hamilton as the green, cackling Wicked Witch and Billie Burke as the fairy godmother–like Glinda — was an adaptation. The classic film is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and it took some liberties of its own. For example, there was no mention in Baum’s book of the Wicked Witch having green skin; instead, she had one eye that moved like a telescope.

More than 50 years after Hamilton wore toxic copper-based face paint to appear green in The Wizard of Oz, Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, adopted that same imagery of the witch.

The musical Wicked, which debuted on Broadway in 2003, is a loose adaptation of Maguire’s novel. Billed as “The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz,” Wicked — both the musical and the movie based on it — is a Wizard of Oz prequel, right? Kind of.

Come with Us on a journey to explain how The Wizard of Oz and Wicked are connected.

Warning: This story contains some spoilers for Wicked the musical and movie.

Is ‘Wicked’ a Prequel?

The movie musical is a prequel in the sense that it offers a backstory for how the Wicked Witch of the West became, well, wicked. She started out as a bright, talented girl named Elphaba whose father shunned her because she was born with green skin after her mother had an affair with a traveling salesman.

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Along with her sister, Nessarose — who is paraplegic and in a wheelchair — Elphaba attends Shiz University in the land of Oz. There she meets a bubbly and popular student named Glinda who becomes her roommate, rival and eventually friend.

Elphaba soon learns that there is a movement in Oz to stop all the anthropomorphic animals — like her wise and kind professor Dr. Dillamond, who is a humanoid goat — from speaking. She is highly sympathetic to the Animals’ cause and vows that if she ever meets the all-powerful Wizard, she will ask for his help to stop the hateful conspiracy.

Wicked’s characterization of Elphaba as a kindhearted activist stands in stark contrast to the evil witch seen in The Wizard of Oz. Glinda, meanwhile, can be vapid, selfish and downright mean at times, which differs from how she is portrayed in the 1939 film.

While Wicked explores how the Wicked Witch and Glinda came to be who they are in The Wizard of Oz, it’s not exactly a prequel due to the timeline. Act I of the musical and part one of the film adaptation occur before the events of The Wizard of Oz, but by act II, the two stories collide when the wide-eyed Kansas native Dorothy comes into the mix.

Is Dorothy in ‘Wicked’?

Dorothy is not really a character in Wicked the musical, but she is part of the plot. In act II of the stage production, Dorothy’s voice is heard and her shadow is seen as she throws a bucket of water on Elphaba.

While part one of Wicked the movie follows the events of the musical’s first act — which occurs before Dorothy arrives in Oz — a glimpse of Dorothy can be seen in the trailer. It’s possible that the film will introduce the character of Dorothy sooner than the musical does.

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Which ‘Wizard of Oz’ Characters Appear in ‘Wicked’?

Elphaba, Glinda, Dorothy and the Wizard are not the only Wicked characters who first appeared in The Wizard of Oz. The musical also provides a backstory for the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch of the East and even the flying monkeys.

One of the factors that complicates Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship is their love for the same guy: the charming and handsome troublemaker Fiyero. Elphaba accidentally turns Fiyero into the Scarecrow while trying to cast a spell that would make him invincible.

Another one of Elphaba’s spells inadvertently turns a munchkin named Boq into the Tin Man. Her sister, Nessarose, is smitten with Boq and attempts to cast a spell to make him fall in love with her, but it shrinks Boq’s heart instead. While trying to enchant Boq so that he is able to survive without a heart, Elphaba turns him into the Tin Man.

Rounding out Dorothy’s trio of iconic companions on the yellow brick road is the Cowardly Lion, who first appears as a lion cub in Wicked. Elphaba frees him from a cage designed to keep Animals from speaking, but even this is later held against her. Boq tells an angry mob of witch hunters that if Elphaba hadn’t fought the lion’s battles for him when he was young, he might have grown up to have more courage.

Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose, goes on to become the Wicked Witch of the East, who appears in the The Wizard of Oz only as a pair of stockinged legs sticking out from underneath a house. In Wicked, Nessarose’s enchanted slippers are silver rather than the iconic ruby red shoes from The Wizard of Oz.

Wicked also provides an origin story for the flying monkeys that serve as the witch’s minions in The Wizard of Oz. Elphaba is tasked with performing a levitation spell on the Wizard’s monkey servant to prove her magical powers, which causes the monkey to painfully grow wings and develop the ability to fly. Elphaba later attempts to free the Wizard’s monkey servants.

There Are Some Notable Differences Between ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Wicked’

While Wicked challenges viewers to reconsider whether The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch was really so evil, there are some major differences between the two stories that suggest they are different takes on the world of Oz rather than one cohesive story.

At the end of Wicked, Elphaba and Fiyero, who are in love, leave Oz together after Elphaba successfully fakes her own death to evade capture (she doesn’t actually melt to death). In The Wizard of Oz, however, the Wicked Witch and the Scarecrow are enemies, and the witch sets the Scarecrow’s arm on fire at one point.

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Wicked’s take on the Wizard is also quite different from The Wizard of Oz. While the titular character in the 1939 film is a bumbling fraud, he is kind to Dorothy and her friends after they learn his secret and even offers Dorothy a ride home to Kansas in his hot air balloon. Wicked, by contrast, depicts the Wizard as a villainous dictator who seeks to control the population of Oz by giving them an enemy: the Animals.

While Wicked might not be a straightforward prequel to The Wizard of Oz, it provides a deeper exploration of the pasts and motivations of the characters from the original story.

A Breakdown of Who Plays Who in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ vs. ‘Wicked’

The Wicked Witch of the West / Elphaba:

The Wizard of Oz: Margaret Hamilton

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Idina Menzel

Wicked the movie: Cynthia Erivo

Glinda:

The Wizard of Oz: Billie Burke

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Kristin Chenoweth

Wicked the movie: Ariana Grande

Fiyero / The Scarecrow:

The Wizard of Oz: Ray Bolger

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Norbert Leo Butz

Wicked the movie: Jonathan Bailey

Boq / The Tin Man:

The Wizard of Oz: Jack Haley

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Christopher Fitzgerald

Wicked the movie: Ethan Slater

The Cowardly Lion:

The Wizard of Oz: Bert Lahr

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Puppet

Wicked the movie: CGI lion

The Wizard of Oz:

The Wizard of Oz: Frank Morgan

Originated the role in Wicked on Broadway: Joel Grey

Wicked the movie: Jeff Goldblum

Wicked hits theaters on Friday, November 22.