“But we were never going for a witchy look,” she added about the making of Erivo’s character. “We were making it very real, very timeless and very connected to everybody. We weren’t going for the prosthetic fantasy version at all. Jon [M. Chu] always wanted everything real.”

But what seems to get ignored is the root of Elphaba’s supposed wickedness: her horror at the mistreatment of animals and her determination to free them. In the Land of Oz, animals are regular members of society, living and working alongside other Ozians — until they’re silenced and forced out of the public eye.

In the original 1939 movie and novel by L. Frank Baum Elphaba, aka The Wicked Witch of the West, dies after Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her and she melts instantly.