Wicked Question

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 8:05am

Is there actually a reason why there are so many strange, made-up words in "Wicked?" My mother asked me yesterday, and I couldn't give a satisfactory answer. Is it just to make Oz seem like an extra-whimsical place to live, or does L. Frank Baum use words like that in the original Oz books (which, shamefully, I haven't read)?

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 8:58am

Because it is in OZ and people fly in bubbles and balloons and can defy gravity so why shouldn't they speak a LiL goofy also...LOL. I have no clue Schmerg. I never read the books either.

[Justin D]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:07am

I dont remember them doing that in the book, but I do remember something in the grimmerie book about them doing that in the show, kind of a quirky thing for the book writer.

[mybigsplash]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 10:14am

In the film the Wizard of Oz, they do speak often with words like those in Wicked. And those words came mostly from the composer of Wizard of Oz, who had strange ways of rhyming. But yes, I would just say its one of those style things that makes Wicked more otherworldly.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 2/20/09 at 11:45pm

Well, I just saw a production of "The Wizard Of Oz," and I was struck by how differently the characters speak from Wicked, and the production I saw was virtually the same as the film. I don't really know much about Wicked, so I assumed there was some secret I wasn't in on or something.

I guess there is no real answer to that question! Thank you so much, though.