Author L. Frank Baum wrote 14 novels about the fantastical land of Oz, which have been adapted for the screen numerous times, going back more than 100 years. Although versions of Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” are still the most recognizable, many of Baum’s other Oz stories have come to life onscreen, and creators have taken various liberties to develop their own Oz adventures.
One of those is “Wicked,” the hit Broadway musical that’s now a big-budget movie hitting theaters this week. “Wicked” provides a sympathetic origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West, with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the misunderstood outcast who ends up labeled a wicked witch, and Ariana Grande as her friend and eventual rival Glinda the Good Witch of the North.
