How The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy Fits in Wicked: For Good: "We Tread Lightly..."
Wicked: For Good will set off down the Yellow Brick Road Friday, November 21.
Fans of Oz rejoicified last night when Universal Pictures debuted the first trailer for Wicked: For Good (shown below), which tackles the second act of the acclaimed Broadway musical upon which the two-part film adaptation is based.
Those familiar with the stage production know the latter half of the story bleeds into the events of The Wizard of Oz. And indeed, Wicked Part I — now streaming exclusively on Peacock — opened with a flash forward, showing Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion skipping down the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to deliver the late Wicked Witch of the West's broomstick to the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum).
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“That intersection is the place that we were first introduced into Oz,” director Jon M. Chu told Vanity Fair. “We tread lightly, but try to make more sense of how it impacts our girls and our characters than maybe the show does."
How does Dorothy Gale fit into Wicked: For Good?
Given that Wicked is told from the perspective of Elphaba (played by Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo), Dorothy and her little dog are relegated to the periphery. After all, this is a revisionist tale that seeks to subvert everything fans think they know about the timeless classic. When asked just how much the ruby-slippered Kansas native would appear in For Good, however, Chu simply stated "We’re delicate" three times in a row.
As for Dorothy's trio of strange companions? Well, the less said the better. All we can do at this time is direct your attention back to the lion cub Elphaba and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) saved in Part I, but perhaps we've already said too much!
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“We want to finish this story in the way that this beautiful memory of Wicked can actually come full circle and can be with you for the rest of your life,” Chu concluded. “We want you to look at both movies in the end and feel like it was one all along.”
In addition to Goldblum, Erivo and Bailey, the sequel also features the return of Ariana Grande (Glinda), Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible), Marissa Bode (Nessarose), Ethan Slater (Boq), Bowen Yang (Pfannee), Bronwyn James (ShenShen), and Sharon D. Clarke (Dulcibear).
Wicked: For Good will set off down the Yellow Brick Road Friday, November 21. In the meantime, fans can stream the first movie, exclusively on Peacock!
