WickedCostumer Says It Was a 'Mad Dash' to Dress 'Goddesses' Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Idina Menzel, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Kristin Chenoweth on Nov. 9.Photo:Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

Note: This article contains spoilers forWicked, in theaters now.

Of course they were going tohave a cameo in Oz.

Of course!

He tells PEOPLE that he had an extremely limited amount of time with the theater royalty, but he crafted their dresses with intention.

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The Oscar-winning costume designer, who has also created costumes for Broadway productions includingHamiltonandDeath 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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“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.”

The duo shared a collabpost, writing the line from the movie, “It was good to see us, wasn’t it?”

Wickedis in theaters now. Go behind the scenes of the film with PEOPLE’s new special issue, availablehere.

source: people.com