How Fiyero Tigelaar from Wicked became a Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz

If you’re not familiar with the full story of “Wicked” – as is the case with anything beyond the events of “Wicked: Part One” – don’t continue down the yellow brick road! Major spoilers ahead!

If you are even a little knowledgeable “The Wizard of Oz” – a 1939 adaptation of the novel by L. Frank Baum “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” -You probably know the four main players in the movie. You have Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), a girl transported from Kansas to Oz thanks to a magical tornado, who ends up meeting the Cowardly Lion (Burt Lahr), the Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger). ) in the imaginary land. (Because the film presents Oz as the site of the magical dream Dorothy has, Lahr, Healy, and Bolger also play farmhands who work on the Gale family estate in “real life.”) Nearly a century later, audiences are brought back to Oz thanks to John M. Chu’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked,” itself an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 Oz-centric prequel novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” but the Scarecrow appears only briefly in the opening. However, those who know it know that we have already done so meet Scarecrow – Because in Stephen Schwartz’s musical, one of the main characters becomes The Scarecrow in Act 2.

So who is doomed to become a brainless scarecrow and ends up begging the wizard to put some gray matter in his head? That would be Prince Winky Fierro Tigelaar, played by “Bridgerton” and “Fellow Travelers” star Jonathan Bailey. If you’re impatient while waiting for “Wicked: For Good” — the recently retitled second half of Chu’s epic “Wicked” saga — here’s how we think Fiyero will undergo his transformation when the film releases this November.

After Elphaba Throop (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande Butera) arrive at SHUZ and begin their studies, the entire student body is disturbed by the impending arrival of Fierro, a handsome prince whose rebellious and irreverent behavior has done them harm. He was expelled from several other schools. When Fierro shows up at Shiz, so do the women especially Tickled, including Galinda, who does her best to flirt with him; Elphaba, in particular, disliked his behavior and disdain for knowledge and study, which clearly meant that Fiyero ended up infatuated with the green-skinned girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day.

Fiyero convinces the entire student body to sneak out one evening and go dancing and partying at the nearby Stardust Hall, and Galinda is exasperated at having to share her single room with Elphaba, who ends up studying at Shiz only after accidentally performing magic that attracts her. Attention school dean of magic Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) convinces Elphaba to wear an unattractive witch’s hat, much to her humiliation. Galinda eventually joins Elphaba at a dance, bonding the two forever, and the duo begins spending time with Galinda’s “friend” Fierro. Although Fiyero seems arrogant and conceited, he joins forces with Elphaba to help a frightened lion cub (who we can imagine might grow up to be the Cowardly Lion) after animals are banned from teaching at Shiz and a cruel professor tries it out. cub; After they share a moment together in the forest, Elphaba sings a lament for the fact that Fiyero loves Galinda and not her (the sad song “I’m Not That Girl”). Once Galinda, who shortened her name to “Glinda” in honor of her fallen animal professor, Dr. Delamond (Peter Dinklage), and Elphaba head to Oz to meet the Wizard, we never see Fiyero again – so what can we expect to see from him in “Baddies: For Good?”

At the end of “Villains: Part 1”, Glinda has (unwittingly) allied herself with the evil Madame Moribel and the Wizard himself (Jeff Goldblum) after allowing Elphaba to escape the clutches of the broom – so where is Fiyero in all of this? He’s back to Shiz, and when we see him again in the second act of the musical “Wicked,” he’s the Captain of the Wizard of Oz’s guard and is engaged to Glinda. Fiyero still loves Elphaba, though – which Glinda seems to know instinctively, especially considering that their engagement was entirely arranged by Madame Morrible to boost morale in Oz and distract from the evil deeds she’s done alongside the wizard – and when she takes… Elphaba is on a high stakes mission and returns to Oz to try to free the Wizard’s Flying Monkeys, and is protected by Fiyero. He disappears with her as well, leaving Glinda devastated (in fact, singing her own version of “I’m Not That Girl”).

While hiding in a remote forest, Fiyero and Elphaba sing a duet called “As Long As You’re Mine,” revealing that they love each other…but only after Elphaba is forced to try to save her sister Nessarose (played by beautiful “Wicked: Part” newcomer Marisa Budd… One”), Fiyero ends up in the wizard’s clutches. Elphaba believes Fiyero to be dead and casts a spell to try to save his life; Since he’s not dead, the spell turns him into a scarecrow, and after Elphaba fakes her death with water (at Dorothy’s hands) using a handy trapdoor, Fierro and Elphaba escape together as the music ends.

Does Fierro’s fate differ from Gregory Maguire’s original version (and, frankly, a lot darker) novel? Yes indeed! We probably shouldn’t worry too much about Fiyero’s journey in the “Wicked” book because the Jon M. Chu films certainly seem to stick to the plot of the musical, but just for some context, here’s the deal with Fiyero in the book (actually, books; Maguire wrote a mini-series).

In the book, Fiyero marries after Elphaba officially “becomes the Wicked Witch of the West” and has three children (not with Glinda), but he and Elphaba have an affair anyway… and after Fiyero is discovered in Elphaba’s company and punished, he is distraught by the discovery Liir, the child he fathered during his dalliance with Elphaba. From there, the wizard takes the entire Tigelar family prisoner, including all of Fiyero’s legitimate children – and when Elphaba pleads with the wizard to release them, he reveals that they are all dead except for Fiyero’s daughter Noor. Elphaba In reality He died from the bucket of water in the book and Fierro never showed up, so not only can we safely assume that the wizard actually killed him, but that he did. no Become a scarecrow. Do you see why Cho is adapting the musical and not the book? The end of the book is finally Unhappy – Even with Elphaba’s defeat and death, Oz is plunged into political turmoil for years afterward.

Fierro’s big musical number in “Wicked: Part One” – presented by Jonathan Bailey Completely crushes – It is the long song “Dancing Through Life” in which he extols the virtues of living an ignorant life devoid of thought and care. If you know that Fierro’s destiny in the musical is to become the Scarecrow, you may want to look and listen closely to the lyrics of the song “Dancing Through Life,” which introduces huge Evidence about that outcome.

The entire song is literally about not having a mind, but a lot of the lyrics directly refer to not having a mind. “Dancing through life, surfing the surface / Gliding where the grass is smooth / Life is less painful for the mindless / Why think so much when life is so comfortable?” “Life’s full of risks when you’re reckless/Those who don’t try never look foolish,” Fierro sings early in the song, repeating this sentiment in different ways. Sure, one could argue that Fierro is speaking in metaphors, but if you take him literally, he’s saying that the best way to experience your precious life is to stop thinking altogether, which is what he does Forced What he does when he loses his mind and becomes a scarecrow later in the story.

Remember how Fierro and Elphaba saved a lion cub from harsh experiments and started their relationship in the process? The whole reason they’re able to safely get the lion cub out of Shiz in the first place is because Elphaba, angry at the thought of the lion cub being tortured in front of her and a room full of students, accidentally performs a spell that makes poppies fly all over the classroom… and the flowers make… Everyone is sleeping. Everyone, except for Fierro, who remained fully conscious and made sure the lion cub got into the forest and out of harm’s way, earning himself a scrape in the face for his trouble.

Why does this relate to Fiyero’s future status as a Scarecrow? You may remember that in “The Wizard of Oz” Dorothy, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion end up fainting in a field full of poppies. However, the Scarecrow manages to stay awake for some reason, somehow immune to the spell cast by the Wicked Witch of the West – or, as he knows her, Elphaba. In the musical, Elphaba manages to temporarily blind the entire class except for Fiyero – so they both save the cub in this version as well, but Jon M. Chu’s choice to change the scene and involve Poppy could be a very clear clue as Fiyero is concerned.

“Wicked: Part One” is available for rent or purchase on demand now.