Wicked costume designer reveals movie’s subtle nod to 1939 film The Wizard of Oz

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Wicked’s costume designer has revealed the movie’s secret link to The Wizard of Oz.

The film based on the Broadway stage adaptation – itself based on a 1995 novel – is a prequel to L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland.

In the much-loved film, Billy Burke plays Glinda the Good, a saintly witch who helps Dorothy (Garland) find her way back home to Kansas.

In the Broadway adaptation of Wicked, Glinda is dressed in an icy blue dress to depict her goodness against Elphaba Thropp who dons a black dress and pointed hat to contrast with her green skin.

Some fans noticed that Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda in the 2024 film directed by Jon M Chu, only wears pink throughout the movie.

But Paul Tazewell, the film’s costume designer, explained that this was less of an intentional departure from the play as an ode to something far older.

“It was actually my decision to dip into and I was very inspired by the Glinda of the 1939 film, played by Billy Burke, because that is the icon of Glinda that I have in my head,” he told Buzzfeed UK.

“I mean, that’s what I always see. And I thought that that was a brilliant idea to bring back the colour of pink into the story of Glinda.

Ariana Grande’s style was influenced by 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Universal)

“So we have that kind of pink , that bubble kind of iridescent pink reflected through all of her time at Shiz and then as we will see, and as the audiences will see, into the second film as well.”

Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who plays the awkward and misunderstood Elphaba, have drawn attention from social media users for their persistently teary promotional interviews.

Billy Burke played Glinda the Good in the film (Warner Brothers)

However, their co-star Ethan Slater and Grande’s real-life partner, explained the reason behind the effusive demonstrations of emotion.

Slater, who plays a Munchkin boy named Boq in the movie, recently toldToday that the two of them constantly joke about crying during interviews.

Glinda wears pink in the film rather than blue as in the stage adaptation (Warner Brothers)

“They’re so funny,” he said. “They’re both like, after a full day of junkets, ‘Well, we cried 100 times again. Everyone must be getting so annoyed.’ But I think it comes from a really genuine place.”

Wicked is out in cinemas now

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