Yahoo Lifestyle “Wicked ”Costumer Says It Was a 'Mad Dash' to Dress 'Goddesses' Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (Exclusive)
Paul Tazewell tells PEOPLE about working with the original Broadway Elphaba and Glinda for their cameo in the new movie
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Idina Menzel, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Kristin Chenoweth on Nov. 9Note: This article contains spoilers for Wicked, in theaters now.
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth may have passed the green and pink torches to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for the new Wicked movie, but that didn't mean they were going to sit idly by.
Of course they were going to have a cameo in Oz.
Of course!
Menzel and Chenoweth, who originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, in the Broadway production of Wicked in 2003, have a fun cameo in Wizomania when Erivo's and Grande's Elphaba and Glinda arrive in Oz — and the two wear appropriately whimsical gowns, dreamed up by costume designer Paul Tazewell.
He tells PEOPLE that he had an extremely limited amount of time with the theater royalty, but he crafted their dresses with intention.
"The question was how do you make something theatrical?" he says of where he began for his Wizomania scene. "How do I design something that's going to be theatrical within the context of a fantasy world? What will Emerald City citizens see as an interesting theatrical presentation? And then inspired by what Nathan Crowley was doing with the scenery, which was to create this pop-up book that comes alive in a way. They're the goddesses of the Wizomania story and presenting the history of how Oz came to be."
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The Oscar-winning costume designer, who has also created costumes for Broadway productions including Hamilton and Death Becomes Her, tells PEOPLE that he had a vision of creating gowns that looked like Christmas trees made out of folded pages of books. He envisioned something from the 19th century that was very light and airy with a whimsical vibe — and definitely sparkly, because they were goddesses after all.
"We know Idina as Elphaba, but I wanted her to be the 'light' one and for Kristin to be the 'dark' one," he says of opting to make Idina's dress light pink and Kristin's purple and flipping their color scheme.
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Related: Why Aren't the Iconic Ruby Slippers in Wicked Red? The Movie's Costume Designer Explains (Exclusive)
"They're both still pretty bright chromatically and sparkly, but I tried to give them opposites," he says. "And it was a mad dash to get everything because it all came together all at once very quickly. We were working tirelessly to pull it all together and make these happen. And I was flying to New York and fitting and then flying back [to London], but we made it happen, and it was really wonderful."
Menzel and Chenoweth both shared a few behind-the-scenes photos from their "one short day" on set filming their cameo, which also included glimpses of their gowns, created by Tazewell and his team. Menzel shared a carousel, writing, "This was a special day. Sisterhood all around." Chenoweth shared her own carousel of photos with the caption, "the most magical time back in the emerald city."
The duo shared a collab post, writing the line from the movie, "It was good to see us, wasn’t it?"
On Nov. 27, the fim's Instagram shared a video of the two on set, writing, "The original Elphaba and Glinda return back to Oz."
Wicked is in theaters now. Go behind the scenes of the film with PEOPLE’s new special issue, available here.
