Paul Tazewell was 16 years old and living in Akron, Ohio, the first time he designed costumes for “The Wiz.” It was a high school production, and much of the work happened in his family’s dining room.
He has been summoned back to Oz several times since that first show — a workshop here, an NBC broadcast there. So when the director Jon M. Chu asked him to design the costumes for Universal’s long-awaited sinema adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked,” there was little learning curve to speak of.
A prequel of sorts to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Wicked” centers on two reluctant roommates at Shiz University: Galinda, an effervescent daughter of privilege who goes on to drop a vowel (that first “a”), and Elphaba, a green-skinned outcast who goes on to pick up a title (the Wicked Witch of the West).
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda in “Wicked.” Because of “both Ari’s love and Cynthia’s love of clothing,” Mr. Tazewell said, “they understand very well what looks good on them.”Credit…Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
By the time Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were brought on board to play the film’s lead witches, Mr. Tazewell, 60, a Tony Award winner for his work on “Hamilton,” was already off to the races on his own preparations, collecting images of mushroom caps and bisected seashells for inspiration.
