NEED TO KNOW
Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Wicked are back, and PEOPLE’s inside look will have fans changed for good.
Wicked: For Good, in theaters Nov. 21, is the second and concluding chapter of director Jon M. Chu’s Broadway-to-screen adaptation. The epic musical brings back Erivo, 38, as Elphaba, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West, and Grande, 32, as Glinda the Good Witch after the success of last year’s Part One.
A new special issue of PEOPLE, available for purchase now, goes behind the curtain with those superstars and more, showcasing exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details and teasers of what to expect from the witches of Oz in their thrillifying sequel.
That includes the differences between Wicked: For Good and Act 2 of Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s long-running Broadway musical.
Most notable among the changes that Chu, 45, and writers Holzman and Dana Fox made is the addition of two new songs from Schwartz, 77: Erivo’s ”No Place Like Home” and Grande’s “The Girl in the Bubble.”
Coinciding with the events of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 movie adaptation, For Good picks up after the events of Part One, when a defiant Elphaba has been branded Oz’s enemy by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
The new movie will see Elphaba at odds with Glinda, who has been accepted her public title — and magic floating bubble — from the Wizard, though she and the so-called Wicked Witch remain close behind the scenes.
People Magazine
As fans saw in a For Good trailer, a wedding not seen in the stage show will be a major plot point for Glinda and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). After Grande is seen walking down an aisle, the event appears to be disrupted by a group of stampeding animals.
Per PEOPLE’s special issue, that moment makes Glinda and Fiyero’s big day less of a Disney happily-ever-after and more like Jumanji.
The nuptials of the former Shiz University students includes a grand pink cake as well, in keeping with Glinda’s signature color. In her tiara, “butterflies create a wreath,” while on the gown, “laser-cut butterflies swirl around the hem,” costume designer Paul Tazewell teases.
The Oscar winner, 61, says the team drew inspiration from a jeweled butterfly choker worn by Billie Burke as Glinda in the 1939 Judy Garland Wizard of Oz.
The butterflies fluttering around the bride as she walks to the altar are digital, he adds. “We didn’t go, ‘Release the butterflies!’ ”
Universal Pictures
As for Fiyero, the addition of a wedding is For Good’s chance to show how his relationship with Glinda — and Elphaba — has evolved, hints Bailey, 37. “He probably was sent to boarding school at a young age,” the actor says, “and isn’t quite sure that he knows what real love is.”
Fans can expect other tweaks to the Wizard and Oz and Wicked stories they know so well. Dorothy Gale will feature more heavily in For Good than in the stage show, though, Chu says, audiences won’t see her face.
“I didn’t want to step on who you think Dorothy is in whatever story that you came into this with,” he says. This, after all, “is still Elphaba and Glinda’s journey, and she is a pawn in the middle of all of it.”
Yeoh’s Madame Morrible will also be involved in fleshing out “an iconic moment we all know from our youth,” teases the director. “We have this amazing moment of the tornado and how it gets conjured, which is not in the show, really.”
And Marissa Bode, who plays Elphaba’s disabled sister Nessarose, confirms her character’s origin story will differ from the stage version. During “The Wicked Witch of the East,” her number with Erivo’s Elphaba and Ethan Slater’s Boq, Nessa isn’t “pleading for a disability to be fixed.” Instead, says Bode, 25, For Good is “focusing on the magic in general and the magic of the story.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
One thing is certain: Wicked: For Good will retain and expand that magic in audiences’ beloved Oz. Go behind the scenes of the new movie with PEOPLE’s new special issue, available here.
