Wicked movie: every musical easter egg we spotted in the film

Cards on the table folks: Wicked, which has been released in cinemas today, might be the single most-Easter Egg-ified musical film we’ve ever seen. Director Jon M Chu saw what Lin-Manuel Miranda did in tick, tick…Boom! and decided to take things up a level.

The result is more easter eggs than we could ever fill in one article, but we’re going to try our best to list a fair few for you now – just so you can show off to your friends. We’ll add more as and when we spot them / get told them in the comments section.

Mild spoilers for Wicked (on stage and screen) to follow, though nothing too earth-shattering! We’re doing this in chronological order by the way.

On a separate note, our fantastic features editor Tanyel Gumushan has already done a deepdive with costume designer Paul Tazewell into some of the unique costume ideas on offer in the film, so we’ve not included those below, and wholeheartedly encourage you to check out her piece.

On with the show…

No One Mourns the Wicked 

• The film opens, like the stage musical, at the end: with the defeat of the Wicked Witch of the West. The first shot we see is a slow tracking shot that alights on Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) fallen hat. Two things about the hat: in the puddle’s reflection it looks like a tornado (like the tornado that flies Dorothy to Oz!) and, secondly – the major close-up of the hat is (and we’ve confirmed this with Jon M Chu) –  a deep cut reference to the original Wicked staging, when the ensemble emerged from a giant hat at the start of “No One Mourns The Wicked”. The giant hat has since been cut, but its memory lives on in the film.
• As the camera flies away from Elphaba’s tower and towards Oz, we spot not only a cloaked hooded figure (ooo) but also a rainbow (again, a nice little Wizard of Oz reference) and Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow hobbling back down the Yellow Brick Road, the Witch’s broomstick in tow. Another few Wizard of Oz references.
• Listen out as we reach Munchkinland – you can hear a little musical reference to “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead”! There are also Gulch and “Over the Rainbow” motifs hidden in the score throughout the film.
• One of the ensemble in Munckinland is Vicki Noon – a former US Elphaba! We’ve made a guide to all the stage stars who feature in the film.
• After Glinda (Ariana Grande) arrives and reminisces about her friendship with Elphaba, a few notes of “For Good” play in the score. This happens a lot throughout the film – it seems that those opening few bars are now the duo’s “love” in musical form. It’s a great bit of musical foreshadowing for part two, so kudos to composers Stephen Schwartz (who penned lyrics and tunes) and John Powell, plus executive music producer Stephen Oremus.

To Shiz! 

• The typeface for the film’s title, used as we arrive at Shiz, is an exact replica of The Wizard of Oz. 
• Listen for it, but you hear a small name check to “Mrs Gulch” during the early Shiz University scenes. Gulch was the name of Dorothy’s tyrannical neighbour in Kansas (and modelled on the Wicked Witch). That isn’t the last Gulch reference!
• Glinda’s mother is played by Alice Fearn – a former Elphaba and all-round musical legend.
• When Elphaba has a magic outburst, the resulting damage cracks a mural of the Wizard to reveal one of a group of animal professors, now obscured from view. The foreboding, and the erasure of talking animals, is clear.

• During “The Wizard and I”, another rainbow appears – as do a group of blue birds (a nod to the lyrics of “Over the Rainbow”).
• The Clock of the Time Dragon gets an appearance during an establishing shot of Shiz – a nice callback to the stage design, where the dragon sits above the stage.
• Nessarose’s slippers, intricate and ornate, feature a rainbow and tornado – another bit of intriguing foreshadowing. Not only are her slippers a subtle hint, but Nessarose wears striped socks – the same that the Wicked Witch of the East is wearing when she has an unfortunate encounter with a house.
• During “What Is This Feeling?”, we see Elphaba and Glinda sparring with training sticks – the choreography a clear nod to their broom/wand battle in act two of the stage show.
• Silhouettes and shadows are used to foreshadow a lot – so moments where Elphaba is practicing her magic and a taloned hand is seen casting a shadow are clear nods to Margaret Hamilton’s iconic moment from The Wizard of Oz. 
• Jonathan Bailey’s horse in the film is the same horse as his character’s horse in Bridgerton!
• The librarian that Fiyero cosies up to during “Dancing Through Life” is the stage and ballet legend Cherida Strallen – part of the colossal Strallen/Langford stage dynasty.
• During “Dancing Through Life”, as Fiyero dances through the spiral bookcases, there are corn insignia on the wooden panels. A small bit of foreshadowing for Fiyero’s future… No wonder he sings “Life’s more painless/For the brainless.”

Ozdust and beyond 

• The “Ozdust Duet” tune released on the Wicked soundtrack, and coming during a pivotal moment in the film, mashes up the tunes of “Dancing Through Life” and “For Good” – blending the present with the future – and arguably the “beginning” and the “end” of Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship. Gosh it hurts!
• When Madame Morrible arrives at the Ozdust Ballroom to give Glinda her wand, her outfit looks exactly like that of Elsa from Frozen – another witch with the ability to control the weather!
• During “Popular”, Glinda picks up a pair of red ruby slippers before casting them aside (after knocking them together three times!) – an obvious enough reference to The Wizard of Oz. 
• Also at the end of “Popular”, Glinda picks up a mirror and holds it aloft – a classic Wicked stage show production image pose.
• During the dramatic classic room scene, a lion cub is presented in at cage – with Elphaba exclaiming that “he’s trembling”. Of course – the lion cub grows into the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. 
• In a departure from the stage show, Elphaba allows the cub to escape by enchanting a group of poppies to send the classroom to sleep – a reference to the field of poppies in The Wizard of Oz. 
• But here’s the twist! Fiyero is unaffected by the poppies and helps Elphaba – much in the same way that the Scarecrow is unaffected by the poppies and saves the day in The Wizard of Oz. Probably not a coincidence…
• Miss Gulch reference part two! As Elphaba cycles off with the cub in the basket of her bike, there’s a nod to Miss Gulch and Toto in The Wizard of Oz.

“One Short Day” 

• Okay – this is probably the most easter egg-laden sequence of the entire film – so apologies if we miss any here.
• As Paul Tazewell reveals, this is the first time that any character in the film starts wearing green!
• Speaking to Jon M Chu, the director revealed the Wizomania sequence in “One Short Day” has familiar moments of blocking, performance and lighting. It’s basically a metatheatrical “greatest hits” version of the stage show – with two familiar Wizomania performers adopting poses that are made famous by the Wicked production shots, while a familiar riff from “Defying Gravity” makes an appearance.

• There are so many cameos during “One Short Day” – book and screenplay writer Winnie Holzman appears, as does composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. There are two others that we don’t want to reveal here, but if you want it spoiled – click away.
• Michael McCorry Rose, a Wicked alum, appears during Wizomania – and seems to be dressed as L Frank Baum, the original creator of Oz.

“A Sentimental Man” 

• During “A Sentimental Man”, the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) pulls up a big diorama of Oz that he’s created for himself. The Walt Disney parallels are hard to ignore.
• He also mulls over what colour to make his new brick road – with Elphaba and Glinda essentially choosing yellow.
• “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” is a famous line thanks to The Wizard of Oz, so it’s all the more amusing when the Wizard hops behind a curtain for a spot of shadow puppetry. This section behind the curtain also makes reference to the climax of the stage show, when a similar scene takes place in silhouette.
• The Wizard also picks up a random, wooden shack and tosses it into the air to soar off into the night sky – now why would a flying house be relevant to The Wizard of Oz? 
• Bear with us with this one. As revealed on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Goldblum has a piece of string that he famously uses for magic tricks. Goldblum tried to get this string into the film, but it was apparently cut out – aside from one shot, where Elphaba is apparently holding the string. We’ll have to go back and find it.

“Defying Gravity”

• During the early parts of “Defying Gravity”, as Elphaba and Glinda head northwards, we see a wad of Wizard paraphernalia, including a potions cart (given a potion got everyone into this mess) and a poster for Oscar Diggs, the Wizard’s true name from our land.
• This goes right the way back to the stage production, but Glinda’s tune when singing “Can’t I Make You Understand” is the same notes as “Follow The Yellow Brick Road”. Cool huh?

• Elphaba and Glinda also hitch a ride in the Wizard’s balloon – primed to leave whenever works best for him.
• We see Elphaba soaring off into the sunset at the end of the film, which makes sense, as she’d be heading to the western sky (and the sun sets in the west, even in Oz).
• During the credits, a number of former Wicked stars are listed as vocalists – so sit back and wait for them to appear!

Wicked was released in cinemas today. Read our review now.