How Wicked connects to The Wizard of Oz

When L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, it seems unlikely that he could have had any idea how big a role the story would come to play in pop culture. In the nearly 125 years since the novel’s debut, it has evolved from a beloved book series to an enduring film classic to a reimagined villain’s origin story to a megahit Broadway musical to a long-awaited two-part film adaptation.

Featuring the first installment of director Jon M. Chu’s Evil film saga now in theaters, the iconic characters that Baum brought to life more than a century ago have reached their current, if not final, form. But while Evil puts a revisionist spin on the earliest Ozian tale, the story’s connection to its original source material remains integral to its appeal.

Based on the award-winning 2003 Broadway musical, which itself was loosely inspired by Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the Westthe Evil The film tells the story of the unlikely friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) and how they became known as the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of Oz respectively. The stage show and the film both open with Glinda descending from the sky in a bubble to announce to the inhabitants of Munchkinland that the Wicked Witch is indeed dead. But as Glinda prepares to leave, a question is asked: “Is it true that you were her friend?”

From there, we flash back in time to the young couple’s tenure at Shiz University, years before Dorothy Gale from Kansas crash lands in Oz. The whole first one Evil the film, which is taken from Act 1 of the musical, takes place in this relative time frame, with the closing number of “Defying Gravity” playing the soundtrack to the scene where Elphaba and Glinda’s paths diverge at the Emerald Palace. But that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of nods The Wizard of Ozfrom the revelation that the wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is a charlatan with no real magic to the planned construction of the Yellow Brick Road for Elphaba (unintentionally) creating her future cohort of flying monkeys.

Act II of the Broadway musical, which will play on the screen when Evil part two hits theaters next November, more directly tied to The Wizard of Oz timeline where Dorothy’s arrival ultimately resulted in Elphaba’s downfall. But while we won’t spoil too much here, if you haven’t already, prepare to have your expectations raised about the roles Dorothy and her friends (namely the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tin Man) play in the events surrounding Elphaba’s ruin. know what happens in the musical.

As for why stories about Oz and its inhabitants have continued to resonate with audiences for so many years, Chu chalks it up to the idea that “The Wizard of Oz was always kind of prophetic in a way.”

“(The 1939 film) was written at a time when America was in transition,” he said NBC News. “At that time, the Depression was just over, and they’re about to go to war. And so it’s always a question of what the American dream looks like when the road ends, and what are the possibilities for what’s next.”