As I write, the soundtrack of the movie Wicked plays in the background. Yes, I have watched the movie 3.5 times, my wife purchased it, twice in the theatre and 1.5 times here at home. We own all four of the Maguire books, and personally I saw the Broadway Tour of Wicked back in the early 2000’s five times on various trips. Yet, prior to 2005 I hated all things Wizard of Oz.

Yes, I despised the 1939 film and the stage musical based off the original book. I have never been big on fantasy stories and this one just turned me off when I was a kid and even more as an adult. I took gigs to play in the various high school and community productions of the musical. If you want to play the good shows, ya gotta play the bad ones. All told I have either played in or conducted the orchestra in over two dozen performances of the Wizard of Oz. What changed?

I had given the answer of, “I think the story and musical is trite,” about a hundred thousand times, and then one of my colleagues asked if I had read the original books by L. Frank Baum. “No, why would I?” was my retort. “Your answer is full of shit, and until you read the source material and provide some actual variables justifying your triteness, I don’t want to hear another word,” they said (or something close to that.) They were right. I bought two volumes of all the Oz books in hard cover, and began my intimate study of all things Oz.

The original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which inspired the movie and musical is far better when I can read the characters in my voice, instead of the hearing them in the 1939 actors voices. The story is better without the songs too. The book is not particularly well written. The language is awkward at times and the descriptions are not very detailed. I can see how a ten year old from 1900 would find this engaging, but a contemporary child not so much.

The rest of the stories are a variations on the theme of Oz. The plots are weak and the character development is less than satisfying, but the more I read the more I began to see how L. Frank Baum was writing about the United States early in the 20th century. The settings for the stories are rooted in the economic development of the Midwest and West. Chicago could have passed for the Emerald City compared to his life out in the rural West. The antagonists in the story could resemble any number of political characters from the early 20th century without being too specific or obvious. The struggle for good over evil is a common theme in all of the Oz Books.

Did I become a fan L. Frank Baum? No, but I have a deeper appreciation of the source material and Baum’s creativity. His work isn’t trite. It is better than trite. It has moments of greatness followed by errors in character and plot development. With a little more development of character and plot he could have had a masterpiece for all ages. It just falls short, sadly. My judgment of the musical softened as result of the readings. I still despise the movie. I have never been a Judy Garland fan, and the remainder of the cast play the characters as if they are cartoons or two-dimensional affectations of what they could of have been. I guess that was entertainment in the early 20th. I also guess that is why I enjoyed Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and the suspense thrillers of the 40’s and 50’s when dialogue was king when I watch early American cinema.

Then along came Gregory Maguire. When I first saw the musical Wicked in Chicago, I was flabbergasted at the beauty of the musical’s songs and the character development. This is when I found out it was based on his book. I have read the first two books in Maguire’s Wicked universe, but after nearly 20 years I need to revisit them. I will then read the next two books. Maguire did what Baum failed to do. No offense Frank, but I’m glad you didn’t flesh out the characters. Maguire does a wonderful job in developing your creations. In fact his telling of Elphaba’s character improves the whole Oz universe. The Oz universe rivals the United States political and cultural paradigm in complexity. The characters symbolize the caste of each place (in Oz or in America) so well. The villain in Baum’s story, becomes an antiheroine of such rich complexity that we empathize with her struggle, love, and loss in Maguire’s tome. Thank heavens Baum’s work is in the public domain, otherwise the law suit would be huge.

Then the new film comes out last November. A movie can do what a musical can’t do. It has time to develop things further. It can add details to the set, costumes, and music that are lost in a stage production. A movie has a single budget and then it is playable forever and ever. A stage production must continue to make money to play week after week. It is stuck in one location, and all of the players must be paid. The set must be easy to move and place. Smoke and mirrors must be in place to do the illusions. It is infinitely more difficult to do a stage production. The film takes Maguire’s creation one step further, and the product is beautiful. The orchestrations are lush and vibrant. Schwartz’s music explodes like a music video. The sets, costumes, and props are everything one could ever ask of Oz. The dancing is quirky and excellently performed. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are spectacular in their roles. Grande surprises me with her vocal control and use of vibrato. Erivo is stunning in every scene. Jon Chu captures every magnificent expression from Erivo’s performance down to the subtle micro-emotions. Her elegance, grace, and beauty is entrancing. I’ve been reduced to tears in each viewing of the film. Never has a film hit me as hard as this one has emotionally. It is spectacularly beautiful in all of its beautiful tragedy. I can’t wait another 11 months for the final act, but I must.

So, 20 years ago I hated all things Oz. I guess you can change your mindset with new information and a challenge. I no longer dislike Baum’s Oz. I’m thankful it is there to be made into Maguire’s imagining of Oz. It’s fresher and better story telling. I hope this version of Oz doesn’t fall into obscurity like L. Frank Baum’s did. It is nice to have a version of unique fantasy to entertain us, even for an old codger like me. If you haven’t watched the film, I would suggest reading the book first then watching it. The amount of detail in the film is overwhelming if you don’t have some foundation to root it too. If you don’t want to buy it, I would suggest going to your public library and checking it out. Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Thanks for reading, now go defy some gravity and become an Oz fan.