The new documentary takes audiences down the yellow brick road to discover the story behind L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz through to the immense popularity of Wicked the Musical.
When having written The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I’m sure that author L.Frank Baum would be amazed at the extent of inspiration that the world and characters he initially created is still achieving.
Arriving just in time for the arrival of the cinema release of Wicked, this comprehensive documentary created by Robin Bextor delves deeply into the history of the original book and how it became the classic 1939 film all the way through the hit musical which continues to run on Broadway and in the West End to this day.
While initially a little dry in terms of the way it deals with L. Frank Baum’s life and what led him to writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which of course is an important aspect, the documentary feels on safer territory when it comes to covering the beloved film starring Judy Garland, Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked and of course Stephen Schwartz’s musical adaptation of that novel (with nods to the 1939 film of course).
Throughout every aspect, there is certainly plenty of interesting facts along the way including the fact that Baum used the strong female influences in his life to help create the character of Dorothy, the way in which the wider news helped Maguire shape his ideas of how the novel Wicked should progress and how Stephen Schwartz was able to include ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ without stealing it (reimagined it wit a different tone).
For those who are interested in books and writing, it is definitely an insightful watch, while those hoping for a bit more insight into the musical might be a little bit disappointed – but Stephen Schwartz does give a fascinating insight into how he created the score and the reason why he wanted Winnie Holzman to write the book for the musical.
Gregory Maguire is particularly interesting to listen to when he recounts his process of writing the book and trying to balance it timeline wise between Baum’s book and the 1939 film – which can’t have been an easy thing to do.
In terms of helping to build up the excitement of Wicked’s release on the 22nd November, Wicked: The Real Story manages to cover a lot of ground and does so in a nuanced way – it is an ideal watch for anyone with an interest in writing or books as much as those who simply enjoy the story in no matter what form they experience it
There is plenty of detail to be found in this documentary and at a pacy 90 minutes long, it has been tightly made and feels like a wonderful celebration of the world of Oz in all its forms.
By Emma Clarendon
Wicked: The True Story is available to watch via Prime Video now.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐