Did you catch all these nods to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in ‘Wicked?’
As a musical and a book,Wickeddid plenty to pay homage to its predecessors.
So weve uncovered all (or almost all) of theWizard of Ozeaster eggs inWicked, Part I.
Wicked / The Wizard of Oz
To pay homage, the Universal logo forWickedis in black and white before the film begins in color.
His initials are L-F-B, which inspired the phonetics of Elphabas name.
The font and design of the posters is the same as the design of the 1939 films posters.
This is similar to when Miss Gulch takes Toto from Dorothy and puts him in her bicycle basket.
After she sings the song, bluebirds can be seen flying over the rainbow in the distance.
So we used fancy chickens playing the piano, this kind of weird Ozian piano in the Ozdust Ballroom.
When Glinda and Elphaba get manicures, this harkens back to Dorothys makeover during Merry Ole Land of Oz.
The Wizards Introduction
Naturally, the Wizard has to scare his guests.
In the 1939 film, a projection and blasts of fireballs are used to introduce the larger-than-life figure.
But we wont say why thats significant … no spoilers!
Instead, she uses the magic of her broomstick, while Dorothy uses the magic of the ruby slippers.
