More ‘Wicked’ Easter Eggs And References

TV & Film

Dec 24

The 2024 film Wicked Part One draws from various iterations of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book series, incorporating Easter eggs in its dialogue, visual motifs, and even music.

The Wizard of Oz film starring Judy Garland as Dorothy popularized the books on an international scale and remains one of the most well-known movies of all time, 85 years later. The 14-book series inspired numerous adaptations before its centennial birthday in 2000, including The Wiz, Oz, Return to Oz, and, of course, Wicked.

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All The Easter Eggs Found In 'Wicked'

In 1995, Gregory Maguire published Wicked: TThe camera pans over the gorgeous landscape of Oz, including millions of tulips planted in several colors in honor of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” winged monkeys flying by, and Dorothy and her companions traveling to see the wizard. This scene fades into “No One Mourns the Wicked” as Glinda is seen landing in Munchkinland. The first melodic connection is with Wizard of Oz’s “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” played by the Munchkin children at the beginning of this song.

he Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, finally giving the infamous witch the name Elphaba - a nod to L. Frank Baum’s initials. Maguire’s novel was adapted into the stage musical Wicked in 2003, which has now been reimagined into two parts, beginning with Wicked Part One.

**There are spoilers for Wicked Part One and the musical Wicked after this point.**

From the very start of the Wicked film, the title card is reminiscent of Wizard of Oz. Before the first characters are seen, Glinda’s voice, hauntingly beautiful, announces that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. This immediately sets the story’s timeframe to overlap with the end of the iconic 1939 movie. Wicked Part One, like the first act of the musical, is mostly a flashback to Elphaba and Glinda's time at Shiz University.

The camera pans over the gorgeous landscape of Oz, including millions of tulips planted in several colors in honor of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” winged monkeys flying by, and Dorothy and her companions traveling to see the wizard.

This scene fades into “No One Mourns the Wicked” as Glinda is seen landing in Munchkinland. The first melodic connection is with Wizard of Oz’s “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead” played by the Munchkin children at the beginning of this song.

The movie includes new background and viewpoints from the Animals in Oz, with details in multiple scenes, but notably in two major ways. Firstly, in one of the scenes of Elphaba’s early life in the new movie, baby Elphaba is delivered by both human and animal nurses. Almost more importantly, Animals who are talking and standing on two legs. Dulcibear, Elphaba and Nessarose’s nanny, is an important new character for the film who comforts the girls as they grow up, treats them as equals to each other, and protects them from criticism.

Secondly, a group of Animal professors all express their fears together in “Something Bad,” though this is sung by Dr. Dillamond and Elphaba when on stage. There are no other Animal professors in the musical, but Wicked Part One makes a point to explain in different scenes that the Animal professors have always been a part of Shiz University.

Nessarose is given a pair of silver shoes in a ruby box by her father when she starts at Shiz University. The Wicked Part One costume designers themed swirls and sparkles around the tornado-inspired heel.

These shoes are silver to reflect the original ones Dorothy traditionally wears in Baum’s stories. They were changed to ruby slippers in Wizard of Oz to play with the then-novel Technicolor filming process. Ruby slippers come up in a different way in “Popular” in Wicked Part One when Glinda is giving Elphaba outfit ideas.

There are several allusions to the Wicked Witch of the West, named Almira Gulch in The Wizard of Oz, such as Miss Cottle saying, “Not to fret - just a slight gulch!” During one of Elphaba’s magic lessons, the shadow of Elphaba’s hand forms a claw over a book of spells. When Elphaba and Fiyero rescue the lion cub, they ride bicycles that resemble the one that Mrs. Gulch rides in Kansas in the classic film.

So much lies in the score of the soundtrack as well, which is beautiful in its own right. All of the movie sets were built as recording studios, so that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo could sing live while filming “in solidarity with the women on Broadway who’ve done this eight shows a week.” There’s a moment when an instrumental segment from “No One Mourns the Wicked” plays as Elphaba gets on the train for Oz, and is about to leave Glinda and Shiz behind. The timeless “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” even plays under the last lyrics of “Defying Gravity.”

Other references that pop up multiple times throughout Wicked include the yellow brick road, rainbows, hot air balloons, poppies, and not letting Elphaba get wet.

There are also times that the futures of Boq and Fiyero come into play, like when Fiyero stands in a T-pose with his arms extended and when Boq’s red handkerchief gets tucked into the pocket over his heart. The orchestration of “For Good” to preview Wicked’s second act is used as a leitmotif for multiple songs in the movie as well.

There are spectacular nods to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz books, The Wizard of Oz film from 1939, and Wicked the musical throughout Wicked Part One. The movie was perfect for eagle eye fans of Wizard of Oz media as well as those new to the scene to help deepen the connection to the characters, the settings, and the themes. There will certainly be more details like these to come with the next film arriving in 2025, Wicked: For Good!

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