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So, you've been holding a lot of space for Wicked lately. After all, who hasn't?
An alternative telling of the events of The Wizard of Oz, the musical follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a mysterious, magical green girl and her popular, pink-obsessed, slightly cooky bestie, Galinda-turned-Glinda (Ariana Grande). Of course, these two girls are destined to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North by the time Dorothy's house lands unceremoniously in Munchkinland.
The new film is adapted from Act 1 of the stage musical by Stephen Schwartz — which means that yes, there is an entire second film coming our way next year. Part one's ending sees Elphaba belting out the earth-shattering “Defying Gravity” as she refuses the Wizard's offer to team up and, instead, lets out a bellowing battlecry and flies off into an uncertain future. Meanwhile, Glinda opts to stick with the corrupt system and stays behind with the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). In the final moments, Elphaba is labelled as a “Wicked witch” for the first time. Gasps! Chills! Tears!
This epic cliffhanger has left us all with plenty of questions. How does Glinda become Oz's good witch? Who is the Wicked Witch of the East? How do the Scarecrow and Tinman come to be? Will we be blessed with another song from Jonathan Bailey's swoon-worthy Fiyero? Oh yeah, and who was that mysterious stranger who seduced Elphaba's mum with that suspicious green elixir all of those years ago?
That's right — we still don't know the identity of Elphaba's father. (If you don't want to be spoiled for part two, please go hold space somewhere else!)
Here's what we now about the titular Oz character's role in the second half of musical movie Wicked.
Elphaba's father first appears in part one
In case you missed it, here's a little recap. In the very beginning of Wicked Part One, Glinda tells the munchkins about Elphaba's childhood. “She had a father. She had a mother. As so many do,” she says as the film cuts to a flashback of Governor Thropp and Elphaba's mother. “Like every family, they had their secrets,” says Glinda in her sing-song voice. As Governor Thropp leaves for a business trip, in waltzes a mysterious travelling salesman, a jaunty hat oh so conveniently covering his face.
He sings: “Have another drink, my dark-eyed beauty, I've got one more night left here in town. So have another drink of green elixir and we'll have ourselves a little mixer. Have another little swallow little lady and follow me down.”
We then cut to Elphaba's birth scene. And yes, the “baby is unnaturally green!” Sweet Oz!
The implication is, of course, that the slimy stranger was Elphaba's real biological father — and his “green elixir" (which, by the way, was at best booze, at worst, some kind of date rape drug) was the thing that made her skin green.
But who was the slippery stranger with the suspicious elixir?
Or can we head straight out after 'Defying Gravity' to sob into our pillows?
Who is Elphaba's father?
In Act 2 of Wicked we finally discover the truth: the Wizard of Oz was the travelling salesman. Yes, Elphaba's idol-turned-sworn enemy is actually her biological dad. Kudos to Jeff Goldblum for trying to tone down his extremely recognisable voice for his little song and dance with Elphaba's mum in part one. There is also another little hint about the Wizard's true identity — in part one, during his song A Sentimental Man, he croons, “I am a sentimental man who always longed to be a father" while staring directly at Elphaba and offering her a place by his side.
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The truth about Elphaba's real father is eventually discovered by Glinda. You may remember that Glinda spotted the bottle of green elixir under Elphaba's pillow in her dorm room at Shiz. Well, much, much later, she spots the exact same bottle in the Wizard's stash.
In the stage musical, Glinda finds Elphaba's hat and the green bottle after Elphaba has been “melted” by Dorothy. She returns Morrible and the Wizard with the bottle. “This was Elphaba's,” she tells the Wizard. “It was a keepsake. It was her mother's. She told me so herself. I've only seen a little, green bottle like this one other time. It was right here, in this very room. You offered me a drink from it."
Suddenly, it dawns on the Wizard that, oh yeah, he did have an affair with the Governor of Munchkinland's wife, and, oh yeah, he must be Elphaba's father.
“That's why she had such powers! She was a child of both worlds!” says Morrible. (As you may recall from The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard flew into Oz from Earth in a hot air balloon.)
Glinda order the Wizard to leave Oz for good. And that is that. If you think you cried a lot in part one, expect part two be utterly exhaustifying.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but because I've seen Wicked, I've been changed for good.
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