Theatrical Adaptation

# 3

McGuire does an outstanding job of making Wicked follow the basis of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He gives great clues throughout the book that, if read before reading Wizard of Oz, would make the reader understand both Wicked and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He shows the two witches’ weaknesses while they are growing up and learning more about themselves and they are learning to see more in others. McGuire also does a great job of making the story lines follow very closely together.
In Wicked, Elphaba, who later becomes the wicked witch of the west, is born into a family where the father is rarely home and the mother sleeps around. Not to mention they move around because of the father’s work. So with the troubles of the new baby, they must call in Nanny. Now Elphaba, as a child, is not like typical children. She bites with sharp teeth at herself and anything around her, and she doesn’t talk or respond well to the other people around her. But when she goes to Shiz, she is a very witty young woman who has grown into herself and her surroundings. She isn’t the most polite person, but she does try to get along with those around her and she makes some strange relationships with Dr. Dillamond, Boq, and the other boys that help her while she is helping the doctor. She never really becomes so cruel and wretched in Wicked.
The same goes for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The witch is never depicted and cruel and wretched until she knows that she is truly threatened by Dorothy and her friends. The witch, unlike the 1939 film, never appears to the travelers until they appear at her castle to kill her. However, in the movie, the movie, the witch appears numerous times throughout the adventures and she threatens them with fireballs, and lines like “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too.” But in the book, you hear nothing of her besides in the wizards challenge to them, and you read nothing about her threatening them until they have been captured and taken to her castle.

posted by LilmissKS @ 2:23 AM