Who Is Elphaba’s Real Father In Wicked

This text accommodates a dialogue of sexual assault.

If you do not know all the plot of the unique Broadway musical “Depraved,” don’t proceed alongside the proverbial yellow brick street! Main spoilers lie forward!

In “Depraved: Half One” — the primary half of Jon M. Chu’s epic adaptation of the musical “Depraved,” which premiered on Broadway again in 2003 — we’re launched to Elphaba Thropp, a green-skinned younger woman who unexpectedly finally ends up finding out magic and sorcery on the prestigious Shiz College. So why is her pores and skin inexperienced, and why is she the solely character we see within the story with this explicit look? Is it associated to the actual identification of her father? Thanks for asking! It positive is!

Once we first meet Elphaba’s mother and father Melena and Governor Frexspar Thropp — performed by Courtney-Mae Briggs and Andy Nyman, respectively — within the blockbuster film, they appear completely happy sufficient and predict their first baby … solely to react with abject horror when she emerges from the womb utterly inexperienced. Because of this, Governor Thropp is not explicit form in direction of his eldest daughter, preferring the corporate of his youthful baby Nessarose (newcomer Marissa Bode), who was born with chronically weak legs after the Governor pressured his spouse into consuming potions made with milk flowers to stop one other baby with, as Elphaba places it in one in all her songs, “verdigris.” (Melena additionally tragically dies after Nessarose’s early and troublesome delivery.) 

The story of how Elphaba turned out inexperienced differs in Stephen Schwartz’s musical and Gregory Maguire’s guide — “Depraved: The Life and Occasions of the Depraved Witch of the West,” which serves because the supply materials for the musical — however here is the gist, and here is how we are able to anticipate to see this storyline conclude in “Wicked: For Good,” the second half of Chu’s film.

Let’s get this out of the way in which: sure, the Wizard of Oz, played in “Wicked: Part One” by Jeff Goldblum, is Elphaba’s father. Principally, the gist is that he and Melena have an affair which ends up in Elphaba, and her inexperienced pores and skin may be very probably resulting from a inexperienced potion fed to Melena by the Wizard himself. This additionally explains why Elphaba’s “father” Governor Thropp, who retains and raises the kid, appears to resent and even hate the woman presumed to be his oldest daughter; although that is by no means confirmed by the character, it is doable that Governor Thropp is aware of Elphaba is a illustration of his spouse’s infidelity.

Being inexperienced is not straightforward — as Kermit the Frog has been attempting to inform us for years — and the added battle of Elphaba’s actual father actually makes issues that rather more difficult for her. As a baby (performed by Karis Musongole), Elphaba is bullied for being completely different and usually casts spells accidentally when she’s mocked for her pores and skin tone. By the point she arrives at Shiz, Elphaba is emotionally closed off and strident as she does her finest to guard Nessarose (who retains telling Elphaba she’s simply nice on her personal). Elphaba finally ends up changing into shut pals along with her roommate Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande-Butera) regardless of their variations and settles into Shiz fairly effectively earlier than the Wizard summons her to Oz’s capital, the Emerald Metropolis. That is when issues go haywire for the longer term Depraved Witch of the West.

I ought to word right here that, in Gregory Maguire’s guide, the story of Elphaba’s conception is sort of completely different, and far more disturbing. Typically, Maguire’s guide is a lot darker than the musical, however the story of Melena’s run-in with the Wizard is especially tough, so right here goes.

Once we first meet Elphaba in Maguire’s novel, the infant has inexperienced pores and skin, however she additionally has razor-sharp tooth, a bent in direction of violence and cruelty, and a crippling worry of water. (The worry is because of an allergy that, clearly, will come into play later on.) Issues unfold equally to the musical: Elphaba goes to Shiz, meets Glinda, impresses the college’s Dean of Sorcery, Madam Morrible (performed by Michelle Yeoh within the movie adaptation), after which realizes the Wizard is a giant outdated fraud. Nonetheless, the reveal that the Wizard is each a fraud and Elphaba’s actual father is far worse. 

On the very finish of the guide, “The Wizard of Oz” protagonist Dorothy Gale by chance kills Elphaba by throwing a bucket of water on the witch to douse a fireplace on her skirt (not understanding in regards to the life-threatening allergy). She then brings one in all Elphaba’s possessions to the Wizard, who realizes it is the inexperienced potion he as soon as used to drug and sexually assault Melena. The truth that Elphaba is the product of a vicious assault lends a selected darkness to her character, but it surely positively is sensible that the musical minimize that individual side.

Should you or anybody you realize has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is obtainable. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Sure, Jeff Goldblum is within the opening variety of “Depraved: Half One,” a gaggle quantity titled “No One Mourns the Depraved” largely led by Glinda the Good Witch as she explains exactly why Elphaba, the “useless” Depraved Witch of the West, was so “evil.” After the residents of Oz rejoice Elphaba’s obvious demise (I say “obvious” right here as a result of, within the “Depraved” musical, Elphaba fakes her demise utilizing a trapdoor and escapes Oz along with her lover Fiyero Tigelaar), Glinda explains that the Thropp household had “secrets and techniques.” At this level we see a flashback of Melena and the Wizard carrying on their affair.

Not solely is the voice emanating from Melena’s mysterious lover very clearly Goldblum’s terribly distinctive voice, the music’s monitor itemizing consists of Goldblum as one of many vocalists alongside Ariana Grande-Butera, Courtney Mae-Briggs, Andy Nyman, Sharon D. Clarke, and Jenna Boyd. (These final two performers voice Dulcibear, the Thropp household nanny, and a lupine physician who helps ship Elphaba.) If this is not a spoiler, I do not know what’s, significantly as a result of it is fairly straightforward to attach the smooth-talking man feeding a inexperienced potion to his lover Melena with Elphaba’s inexperienced pores and skin tone.

In case you did not put the items collectively because of the very apparent Jeff Goldblum cameo in “No One Mourns the Depraved,” Goldblum’s Wizard actually drives the purpose house throughout his solely solo music in “Depraved: Half One,” titled “A Sentimental Man.” In the direction of the tip of the film — before the Wizard’s evil intentions become apparent and Elphaba flies away from the Emerald City under significant duress — Goldblum delivers an irreverent efficiency of the Wizard’s music from the musical as he exhibits off his miniature model of Oz to a captivated Elphaba and Glinda. So let’s take a look at these lyrics for a second, we could?

After Elphaba makes use of the want promised to her by the Wizard to free Oz’s imprisoned, subjugated speaking animals, the Wizard tells her he agrees earlier than getting on to the purpose: “I’m a sentimental man / Who at all times longed to be a father / That is why I do the most effective I can / To deal with every citizen of Oz as son or daughter.” (Goldblum makes positive to actually hit the phrase “daughter,” too.) 

Proper after that, the Wizard names Elphaba particularly and says he’d wish to “elevate [her] excessive” as a result of “everybody deserves an opportunity to fly” — a line which returns in Elphaba’s closing Act 1 showstopper “Defying Gravity. Let’s not neglect that the Wizard closes his music by crooning, “And serving to you along with your ascent permits me to really feel so / Parental.” Okay, dude. We get it. You are Elphaba’s dad.

Okay, so what can we anticipate from the Wizard — and his corrupt sidekick Madam Morrible — in “Depraved: For Good” when it releases in November 2025? Nicely, as “Depraved: Half One” closes, the Wizard and Madam Morrible launch what can solely be described as a smear marketing campaign in opposition to Elphaba, telling all of Oz that she’s pure evil and have to be captured to be able to save the world. Because the viewers is aware of, it is a lie; Madam Morrible and the Wizard merely need to use Elphaba’s highly effective magic to bend the world of Oz to their will. The Wizard cannot even learn the magical guide generally known as the Grimmerie (he cannot really do magic in any respect), and Madam Morrible, although she will be able to management the climate, nonetheless is not fairly as sturdy as Elphaba (regardless of the inexperienced witch’s lack of formal coaching).

On the finish of Gregory Maguire’s guide “Depraved,” the Wizard provides up his ruse and leaves Oz completely, probably returning to Omaha, Nebraska (the canonical house of the Wizard in line with L. Frank Baum’s authentic books). As for the musical, Glinda, believing that Elphaba is useless and searching for justice for her fallen good friend, exhibits up within the Emerald Metropolis, confronts the Wizard with the inexperienced elixir he as soon as fed to Melena, and arrests each the fraudulent wizard and Madam Morrible for his or her many crimes — all whereas Elphaba is protected and sound along with her one real love Fiyero. Presumably, since Jon M. Chu’s first “Depraved” film adopted the musical fairly faithfully, we are able to anticipate to see Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard locked up for good when all is claimed and completed.

“Depraved: Half One” is obtainable to lease or purchase on demand now. “Depraved: For Good” is ready to launch on November 21, 2025.

This text accommodates a dialogue of sexual assault.

If you do not know all the plot of the unique Broadway musical “Depraved,” don’t proceed alongside the proverbial yellow brick street! Main spoilers lie forward!

In “Depraved: Half One” — the primary half of Jon M. Chu’s epic adaptation of the musical “Depraved,” which premiered on Broadway again in 2003 — we’re launched to Elphaba Thropp, a green-skinned younger woman who unexpectedly finally ends up finding out magic and sorcery on the prestigious Shiz College. So why is her pores and skin inexperienced, and why is she the solely character we see within the story with this explicit look? Is it associated to the actual identification of her father? Thanks for asking! It positive is!

Once we first meet Elphaba’s mother and father Melena and Governor Frexspar Thropp — performed by Courtney-Mae Briggs and Andy Nyman, respectively — within the blockbuster film, they appear completely happy sufficient and predict their first baby … solely to react with abject horror when she emerges from the womb utterly inexperienced. Because of this, Governor Thropp is not explicit form in direction of his eldest daughter, preferring the corporate of his youthful baby Nessarose (newcomer Marissa Bode), who was born with chronically weak legs after the Governor pressured his spouse into consuming potions made with milk flowers to stop one other baby with, as Elphaba places it in one in all her songs, “verdigris.” (Melena additionally tragically dies after Nessarose’s early and troublesome delivery.) 

The story of how Elphaba turned out inexperienced differs in Stephen Schwartz’s musical and Gregory Maguire’s guide — “Depraved: The Life and Occasions of the Depraved Witch of the West,” which serves because the supply materials for the musical — however here is the gist, and here is how we are able to anticipate to see this storyline conclude in “Wicked: For Good,” the second half of Chu’s film.

Let’s get this out of the way in which: sure, the Wizard of Oz, played in “Wicked: Part One” by Jeff Goldblum, is Elphaba’s father. Principally, the gist is that he and Melena have an affair which ends up in Elphaba, and her inexperienced pores and skin may be very probably resulting from a inexperienced potion fed to Melena by the Wizard himself. This additionally explains why Elphaba’s “father” Governor Thropp, who retains and raises the kid, appears to resent and even hate the woman presumed to be his oldest daughter; although that is by no means confirmed by the character, it is doable that Governor Thropp is aware of Elphaba is a illustration of his spouse’s infidelity.

Being inexperienced is not straightforward — as Kermit the Frog has been attempting to inform us for years — and the added battle of Elphaba’s actual father actually makes issues that rather more difficult for her. As a baby (performed by Karis Musongole), Elphaba is bullied for being completely different and usually casts spells accidentally when she’s mocked for her pores and skin tone. By the point she arrives at Shiz, Elphaba is emotionally closed off and strident as she does her finest to guard Nessarose (who retains telling Elphaba she’s simply nice on her personal). Elphaba finally ends up changing into shut pals along with her roommate Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande-Butera) regardless of their variations and settles into Shiz fairly effectively earlier than the Wizard summons her to Oz’s capital, the Emerald Metropolis. That is when issues go haywire for the longer term Depraved Witch of the West.

I ought to word right here that, in Gregory Maguire’s guide, the story of Elphaba’s conception is sort of completely different, and far more disturbing. Typically, Maguire’s guide is a lot darker than the musical, however the story of Melena’s run-in with the Wizard is especially tough, so right here goes.

Once we first meet Elphaba in Maguire’s novel, the infant has inexperienced pores and skin, however she additionally has razor-sharp tooth, a bent in direction of violence and cruelty, and a crippling worry of water. (The worry is because of an allergy that, clearly, will come into play later on.) Issues unfold equally to the musical: Elphaba goes to Shiz, meets Glinda, impresses the college’s Dean of Sorcery, Madam Morrible (performed by Michelle Yeoh within the movie adaptation), after which realizes the Wizard is a giant outdated fraud. Nonetheless, the reveal that the Wizard is each a fraud and Elphaba’s actual father is far worse. 

On the very finish of the guide, “The Wizard of Oz” protagonist Dorothy Gale by chance kills Elphaba by throwing a bucket of water on the witch to douse a fireplace on her skirt (not understanding in regards to the life-threatening allergy). She then brings one in all Elphaba’s possessions to the Wizard, who realizes it is the inexperienced potion he as soon as used to drug and sexually assault Melena. The truth that Elphaba is the product of a vicious assault lends a selected darkness to her character, but it surely positively is sensible that the musical minimize that individual side.

Should you or anybody you realize has been a sufferer of sexual assault, assist is obtainable. Go to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Sure, Jeff Goldblum is within the opening variety of “Depraved: Half One,” a gaggle quantity titled “No One Mourns the Depraved” largely led by Glinda the Good Witch as she explains exactly why Elphaba, the “useless” Depraved Witch of the West, was so “evil.” After the residents of Oz rejoice Elphaba’s obvious demise (I say “obvious” right here as a result of, within the “Depraved” musical, Elphaba fakes her demise utilizing a trapdoor and escapes Oz along with her lover Fiyero Tigelaar), Glinda explains that the Thropp household had “secrets and techniques.” At this level we see a flashback of Melena and the Wizard carrying on their affair.

Not solely is the voice emanating from Melena’s mysterious lover very clearly Goldblum’s terribly distinctive voice, the music’s monitor itemizing consists of Goldblum as one of many vocalists alongside Ariana Grande-Butera, Courtney Mae-Briggs, Andy Nyman, Sharon D. Clarke, and Jenna Boyd. (These final two performers voice Dulcibear, the Thropp household nanny, and a lupine physician who helps ship Elphaba.) If this is not a spoiler, I do not know what’s, significantly as a result of it is fairly straightforward to attach the smooth-talking man feeding a inexperienced potion to his lover Melena with Elphaba’s inexperienced pores and skin tone.

In case you did not put the items collectively because of the very apparent Jeff Goldblum cameo in “No One Mourns the Depraved,” Goldblum’s Wizard actually drives the purpose house throughout his solely solo music in “Depraved: Half One,” titled “A Sentimental Man.” In the direction of the tip of the film — before the Wizard’s evil intentions become apparent and Elphaba flies away from the Emerald City under significant duress — Goldblum delivers an irreverent efficiency of the Wizard’s music from the musical as he exhibits off his miniature model of Oz to a captivated Elphaba and Glinda. So let’s take a look at these lyrics for a second, we could?

After Elphaba makes use of the want promised to her by the Wizard to free Oz’s imprisoned, subjugated speaking animals, the Wizard tells her he agrees earlier than getting on to the purpose: “I’m a sentimental man / Who at all times longed to be a father / That is why I do the most effective I can / To deal with every citizen of Oz as son or daughter.” (Goldblum makes positive to actually hit the phrase “daughter,” too.) 

Proper after that, the Wizard names Elphaba particularly and says he’d wish to “elevate [her] excessive” as a result of “everybody deserves an opportunity to fly” — a line which returns in Elphaba’s closing Act 1 showstopper “Defying Gravity. Let’s not neglect that the Wizard closes his music by crooning, “And serving to you along with your ascent permits me to really feel so / Parental.” Okay, dude. We get it. You are Elphaba’s dad.

Okay, so what can we anticipate from the Wizard — and his corrupt sidekick Madam Morrible — in “Depraved: For Good” when it releases in November 2025? Nicely, as “Depraved: Half One” closes, the Wizard and Madam Morrible launch what can solely be described as a smear marketing campaign in opposition to Elphaba, telling all of Oz that she’s pure evil and have to be captured to be able to save the world. Because the viewers is aware of, it is a lie; Madam Morrible and the Wizard merely need to use Elphaba’s highly effective magic to bend the world of Oz to their will. The Wizard cannot even learn the magical guide generally known as the Grimmerie (he cannot really do magic in any respect), and Madam Morrible, although she will be able to management the climate, nonetheless is not fairly as sturdy as Elphaba (regardless of the inexperienced witch’s lack of formal coaching).

On the finish of Gregory Maguire’s guide “Depraved,” the Wizard provides up his ruse and leaves Oz completely, probably returning to Omaha, Nebraska (the canonical house of the Wizard in line with L. Frank Baum’s authentic books). As for the musical, Glinda, believing that Elphaba is useless and searching for justice for her fallen good friend, exhibits up within the Emerald Metropolis, confronts the Wizard with the inexperienced elixir he as soon as fed to Melena, and arrests each the fraudulent wizard and Madam Morrible for his or her many crimes — all whereas Elphaba is protected and sound along with her one real love Fiyero. Presumably, since Jon M. Chu’s first “Depraved” film adopted the musical fairly faithfully, we are able to anticipate to see Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard locked up for good when all is claimed and completed.

“Depraved: Half One” is obtainable to lease or purchase on demand now. “Depraved: For Good” is ready to launch on November 21, 2025.