Elphaba and Glinda’s Wicked little guide

Once upon a time, just before a girl named Dorothy Gale got swept up in a tornado and was blamed for crushing a witch under her house in The Wizard of Oz, there were no good witches or wicked witches – just best friends. 

Wicked is the story of how a brilliant, kind, green-skinned girl named Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) became known as the Wicked Witch of the West, while her best friend from the magical Shiz University, Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande), became Glinda the Good. “Elphaba and Glinda are torn apart by their world. They have to first find their way to each other. Ultimately, they have to sacrifice for one another,” says producer Mark Platt. 

“As we explored this complex, intense friendship, we found it was the heart of the show,” adds Wicked screenwriter Winnie Holzman. “It’s the idea that you meet someone, and that person changes the course of your life. And it’s also about two young women realizing that they want to make a positive impact in their world … and where that realization leads them.”

Watch the trailer for Wicked

While Elphaba and Glinda dance and sing their way through life at first, Elphaba uncovers an evil conspiracy to steal the rights and voices from the intelligent, speaking Animals of Oz. And as Elphaba tries to help them, she comes up against a growing movement to blame the animals for everything wrong in society. The true face of wickedness emerges. A powerful, charismatic leader is manipulating the citizens of Oz to turn on one another out of fear, betray their loved ones and neighbours, and commit terrible deeds. And anyone who stands in their way will be crushed. 

Stream Wicked now.

Elphaba and Glinda

“The beautiful thing about Glinda and Elphaba is that everyone can see parts of themselves in them,” insists Ariana. “They represent so much complexity, humanness, gorgeous nuance, love, boundaries – all the complexities of loving, disagreeing, finding oneself, doing what’s right, all rooted in love.” 

Playing such devoted friends on screen leaked into Cynthia and Ariana’s real lives. “We got tattoos together,” reveals Ariana. “I got an ‘E’ for Elphaba in a heart on the back of my leg and she had a little ‘G’ for Glinda on the back of hers.” Cynthia adds that she loved their on-screen playfulness. “I hope that we don’t lose our love of play. That’s something that I really enjoyed – this need to keep wanting to learn and discover. When we worked together, something special happened.”

Meet Glinda the good

“I had been chasing producer Marc Platt down for about ten years, wondering when this movie was going to happen and when I would have the opportunity to audition,” jokes Ariana, a lifelong fan of the Wicked stage production, who was once gifted a wand by the original stage Glinda, Kristin Chenoweth. “When I finally found out about the audition, I started training every day with my vocal coach, Eric Vetro, and my acting coach, Nancy Banks. I had to retrain my voice to sing more classically and operatically. It takes the chords a while to reacclimate, like any other muscle, which requires a lot of training.”

Glinda’s look was inspired by actress Grace Kelly’s 1950s and 60s aesthetic. Costume designer Paul Tazewell dressed Ariana in a palette of pinks, lavenders and iridescent tones that would call to mind a bubble or an aurora, hinting at her light, delicate spirit. Her iconic pink bubble dress was shaped by the Fibonacci spiral, while her lavender bubble dress featured iridescent layers that moved like water. 

“I had butterflies on everything, custom earrings and tiny laser-cut details on my shirt,” adds Ariana. “Every costume, including the puff sleeves with butterflies, was a work of art. Paul’s attention to detail, like the butterfly necklace, made each look special…I was so excited. I was the happiest, most grateful girl in the world. There are no bad days now – just my pink closet and me, very happy.” 

While Wicked (1995) novelist Gregory Maguire was enchanted by Ariana’s voice, he believes her true magic is in her face. “She has the capacity of great pathos in that beautifully boned face. These are scenes not where she’s singing or using that voice. They’re scenes where she’s just being a complicated, troubled individual full of potential. She communicates that with dignity, grace and surprise,” he says.

Elphaba’s green but not mean

“Elphaba and I have a really clear understanding of what it is to be different and alone…but still be fierce in the fight to be yourself,” reveals Cynthia. “I’ve learned that she’s really vulnerable and wears her heart on her sleeve. Both of us have experienced extreme pain and know what it feels like to be let down by someone. It’s been nice to be able to draw on those experiences to pour into her.”

Paul Tazewell collaborated with Cynthia to arrive at the perfect character journey for Elphaba, who slowly comes out of her shell and into her power at Shiz. “Cynthia is a huge fashionista and loves clothing. Our collaboration was beautiful and ensured the designs aligned with how she was playing the character. It was essential to stay in step with her portrayal because we were breaking new ground,” says Paul. He worked nature symbols into Elphaba’s look, including textures and patterns resembling mushrooms and fungus, hinting at her groundedness and her connection to the natural world. Look closely, though, and you’ll also spot the Fibonacci spiral, which Elphaba has in common with Glinda.  

Elphaba’s creator, Maguire, seems starstruck. “I have been staggered, staggered is the only word, by the powerful, complicated emotions she can communicate with her eyes and the set of her chin and the wrinkle of her brow. It’s a masterclass in acting, and it happens in three to four seconds,” he says. Director Jon M Chu agrees. “I remember when Cynthia sang three words of, I’m Not That Girl at a rehearsal. Three crew members, grown men, were in tears from only a few words – so much so that she had to hug them. That’s what our audience is coming for, and she’s going to deliver.”

10 magical facts

Among its 129 award wins, Wicked won the Best Costume Design and Best Production Design Oscar and BATFA awards for production designer Nathan Crowley and costume designer Paul Tazewell, so there’s plenty to pause on and enjoy! 

1. To create the flower fields around Munchkinland, production designer Nathan Crowley arranged for nine million tulips to be cultivated in a field in Norfolk, England.
2. Shiz University’s architecture was inspired by Chicago’s Great Columbian Exposition of 1893, which was the author L Frank Baum’s original inspiration for descriptions of the land of Oz in his 1900 novel, The Wizard of Oz.
3. Like Hogwarts students, Shiz University’s students arrive at their campus by boat. But the Wizard of Oz needed something fancier. Enter the Emerald Express train. “My fascination with the intricate automata of Louis XV’s era and illusionist Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin’s mechanical marvels inspired us to craft a train propelled by clockwork.” explains Nathan Crowley. 
4. To design the Wizard’s intimidating giant head, professional puppeteer and senior SFX technician Chris Clarke first built a one-twelfth scale animatronic, after which every part was sized up to create the four-and-a-half metre-tall version. 
5. Because Marissa Bode, who plays Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, uses a wheelchair in real life, director Jon M Chu, producer Marc Platt and their team hired fellow wheelchair user Chantelle Nassari as a consultant during both pre-production and filming to guide their work so that every set Marissa appeared on would be wheelchair accessible, along with her trailer. 
6. Prop modelling’s head of department Rob Seex built practical effects into Elphaba’s Grimmerie (an ancient book of wisdom and magic). “The one for flying monkeys allowed us to pull out fan-like wings from The Grimmerie,” hints Rob.
7. After trying many different ideas, prop master Jamie Wilkinson came up with the idea of making Elphaba’s broomstick mimic mangrove roots to hint at her complex nature.  
8. Costume designer Paul Tazewell led a team of around 150 craft specialists including costume makers, tailors, custom weavers and embroiderers. “We had departments dedicated to beading and sparkling, custom knitters for Shiz uniforms, and specialists in custom printing and dyeing,” reveals Paul.
9. Paul Tazewell’s designs for Madame Morrible’s (Michelle Yeoh) clothes worked in hints at her weather powers, including swirling cloud motifs and beaded patterns that hinted at wind currents.
10. Rather than putting Cynthia Erivo through endless makeup tests to find the perfect on-screen green for Ephaba’s skin, makeup and hair designer Frances Hannon carried out daily tests with models whose skin tone matched Cynthia’s. She eventually settled on a discontinued Canadian product with a neon yellow that she was able to mix with her original green makeup. The neon yellow allowed the green to “come alive” under all lighting conditions. 

PS: If you love a behind-the-scenes snippet, watch the official 11-minute making-of video here.

7 schools of witchcraft and wizardry

1. The Harry Potter and Hogwarts-verse

For the last word in lawless and all-powerful magic, swish and flick every Harry Potter film, along with two Fantastic Beasts: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011), Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2016), and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

2. Dune: Prophecy

Set 10000 years before the birth of Dune Part 2 rebel leader Paul Atreides, this sci-fi series details the early years of the Bene Gesserit order of “witches”, to reveal how they came to control the heart of the multi-planetary empire of planets. The Bene Gesserit originally train as “Truthsayers” who can minutely study body language to detect whether someone is lying. But their powers grow to allow them to develop more supernatural skills including using their voices to compel people into action against their will, communicating telepathically not only with the living, but with their ancestors, and controlling their bodies down to a molecular level. 

3. Cranston Academy: Monster Zone

Animated horror-comedy film. Awkward American Danny (Jamie Bell), his brilliant Australian academic rival Liz (Ruby Rose), and their lamp-loving teacher, professor Mothman (Idzi Dutkiewicz), have to save their magical boarding school after Danny accidentally opens a portal that allows monsters from the fifth dimension to invade London. Not content with magic, Cranston Academy also has a nuclear reactor on campus, so uh oh.

4. Iyanu Season 1

Animated series adapted from Nigerian creator Roye Okupe’s popular Dark Horse graphic novel series, Iyanu: Child of Wonder. Drawing on Nigerian culture, music, and mythology, Iyanu follows a brave young orphan living in the magical kingdom of Yorubaland. After danger triggers Iyanu’s (Serah Johnson) divine powers, Olori (Adesua Etomi-Wellington), an exile and the last Agoni, trains Iyanu to use her magical gifts to cleanse animals of their corruption, communicate with animals, control inanimate objects and all plant life, and to create divine constructs. Accompanied by newfound friends Biyi (Okey Jude) the adventurer and Toye (Samuel Kugbiyi ) the bookworm, as well as a magical leopard named Ekun, Iyanu then sets out to uncover and defeat the source of the evil in their community. 

5. Snow White & The Huntsman (2012) and The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016)

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) grows up imprisoned by her evil stepmother, Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron), a powerful sorceress. Ravenna’s powers include animating an army of glass soldiers, secretly sucking the youth out of other women to keep her beauty, and spying using her all-knowing enchanted magical mirror. In The Huntsman: Winter’s War, which is both a prequel and a sequel, Queen Ravenna’s sister, Princess Freya (Emily Blunt) kills her lover after he kills their newborn daughter. The stress unleashes her ice powers and she becomes the Snow Queen. Freya, who has the power to create illusions, rules with fear and raises an army of kidnapped children who she bans from falling in love. 

6. Nanny McPhee and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Magical and magically hideous childminder Nanny McPhee (Emma Thompson) – based on children’s book author Christianna Brand’s Nurse Matilda character – has the power to combine magic and discipline to bring unruly households to order. Possibly immortal (we see her during both the Victorian and WWII era), Nanny McPhee is only ugly as long as children behave badly. Once her charges are well behaved, she becomes a beautiful woman and flies off to bring order to her next household. She can move things with her mind, control other beings’ bodies, manipulate the weather, and stay calm no matter what the little monsters do to tick her off. 

7. The Academy of Magic

Family-friendly animation aimed at younger children. Sixteen-year-old Aura (Laura Megan Stahl) and her friends have many exciting adventures – and run-ins with school bullies – as they train their natural abilities at the exclusive Academy of Magic. But when she finds out that the school hides some dark secrets, she sets out to uncover them, along with the truth about why her teacher has been so eager to guide her.