5 differences between ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’

Last week, the long-awaited first part of the adaptation of “Wicked”, a renowned Broadway musical that hits theaters starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivoactresses responsible for bringing to life the characters Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, respectively.

The plot, which appeared in the book of the same name written by Gregory Maguire and released in 1995, before hitting the stage for the first time in 2003, it is inspired by another literary work, released in 1900 by the author L. Frank Baumentitled “The Wizard of Oz”, which also received a renowned film adaptation in 1939, with Judy Garland playing the lovely Dorothy.

However, despite the two productions taking place in the same universe, and having many of the same characters, both have some differences that many people who are learning the story now may not be aware of. Check out some!

[CUIDADO! O TEXTO PODE CONTER SPOILERS DE ‘WICKED’]

1. The Yellow Brick Road

In “The Wizard of Oz”, Dorothy is guided by Glinda to follow the yellow brick road to reach the Emerald City, where she will meet the Wizard of Oz. However, in “Wicked”, the path had not yet been built, and was being planned by the Wizard.

During the film, when Glinda and Elphaba finally meet the Wizard of Oz, he presents them with a model of Oz, showing his new plan to build a brick road that will connect everything and asking the pair to choose a color, with Glinda choosing yellow.

2. Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Tin Man

While walking down the yellow brick road on her way to the Emerald City in “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy meets a Scarecrow who dreams of having a brain, a Tin Man who dreams of having a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who has the design to have more courage. Together, the quartet goes to meet the Wizard of Oz, who would be the only one capable of making their wishes come true.

In “Wicked”, the audience discovers the origin of each of these characters: the Cowardly Lion was captured and taken caged as a cub to a class at Shiz University, being freed by Elphaba, justifying his excessive fear; Boq becomes the Tin Man after being bewitched by Nessa for deciding to leave her, causing her to also take his heart; Fiyero is transformed into the Scarecrow after being accidentally bewitched by Elphaba while trying to protect him.

3. The identity of the Wicked Witch of the East

Right at the beginning of “The Wizard of Oz”, when Dorothy’s house is taken by a cyclone to the magical world, we discover that the house ended up falling on the Wicked Witch of the East, sister of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, causing her to become furious with the little girl, and spend the entire saga trying to capture her.

Although we know that the deceased witch is Elphaba’s sister, we only learn her name and more of her story in “Wicked”. In the production, it is explained that the character is called Nessarose, or just Nessa, a young woman in a wheelchair who gets involved with Boq, while the boy was trying to impress Glinda, his true love. In the second act of the play, she receives the famous little red shoes that have superpowers and allow her to walk.

4. The Wizard of Oz

In the 1939 film, the Wizard of Oz is considered a kind of deity by the population, however, he ends up being unmasked as a great hoax by Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man, but, despite not having superpowers, he manages to help the quartet, and is not necessarily portrayed as a bad being.

In the new release, the Wizard of Oz is the main villain of the plot. Even though he is still extremely admired by the people of Oz, Elphaba ends up discovering that he is responsible for ordering the talking animals to become extinct, the great drama of the first part of the story.

5. Friends?

If you only watched “The Wizard of Oz,” you would never imagine that the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West could have been friends one day — but that actually happened.

In “Wicked”, we follow the beginning of the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda, who met when they both attended Shiz University. There, they were assigned as roommates and, at first, they really hated each other, but they ended up getting closer after spending time together.

Also read: Understand the complete timeline of ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’