海角大神

鈥淲icked,鈥� the retelling of 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz,鈥� features familiar elements. There鈥檚 a yellow brick road, an Emerald City, and even a cameo by Dorothy and Toto. Plus show tunes.

The imminent big-screen musical expands the fantasy world of L. Frank Baum鈥檚 original books and the classic 1939 MGM movie adaptation starring Judy Garland. It also subverts them. 鈥淲icked,鈥� based on a 1995 novel, challenges our conceived notions of Baum鈥檚 characters. It explores the nature of evil through the complex friendship between Glinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch.

鈥淎re people born wicked?鈥� asks Glinda during the opening musical number. 鈥淥r do they have wickedness thrust upon them?鈥�

Confronting those questions may be more terrifying than encountering Oz鈥檚 flying monkeys.

Gregory Maguire, the author of 鈥淲icked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,鈥� describes the story as 鈥渁lmost like a morality play.鈥� The author, who invited the Monitor to visit his home, is sitting near a bookshelf that includes many of his works. To date, he鈥檚 published 38 titles. Some are children鈥檚 fantasy books. Others are adult reinterpretations of fairy tales such as 鈥淐inderella鈥� (鈥淐onfessions of an Ugly Stepsister鈥�) and 鈥淪now White鈥� (鈥淢irror, Mirror鈥�). His blockbuster 鈥淲icked鈥� was adapted as a Tony-winning musical in 2003. It鈥檚 been defying gravity ever since.

A global phenomenon, 鈥淲icked鈥� ranks as Broadway鈥檚 second-highest grossing production after 鈥淭he Lion King.鈥� The first installment of the movie adaptation, which has been split into two parts, arrives in cinemas Nov. 22. Meanwhile, Mr. Maguire is readying a spring release for his latest book, 鈥淓lphie: A Wicked Childhood.鈥�

In common, these various iterations endure, Mr. Maguire says, because they speak to the innate instinct within each of us to be good.

鈥淭he play manages to make wanting to be good, wanting to do good, into a theatrical gesture that everybody in the audience can recognize and can remember,鈥� says Mr. Maguire, his face aglow from a standing lamp in his wood-paneled living room. But, he adds, Western culture has become slightly embarrassed by this essential truth. 鈥淚t goes along at the same rate with the secularization of [the United States] ... and the decline of church attendance. Anybody who talks about being good is 鈥榥aff鈥� and is 鈥榮impleminded.鈥欌��

From a classic film, a morality play

When Mr. Maguire was a child, his four siblings called him 鈥渁 moral savant.鈥� In part, he attributes that to his Catholicism. He was taught that good is 鈥渢he strongest gravity in the forward progress of time.鈥� Mr. Maguire was raised in a strict, lower-middle-class household in Albany, New York. Reading was encouraged. Television was rationed. Every year, Mr. Maguire was allowed to watch 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz.鈥� Such was its powerful hold on his imagination that he dragooned his brothers and sisters into playing the Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow, and Dorothy. But the boy鈥檚 reenactments didn鈥檛 always stick closely to the movie storyline, a precursor to the path he鈥檇 take as an adult. By the time Mr. Maguire began writing 鈥淲icked,鈥� he was an established children鈥檚 book author.

鈥淚 began to feel that some of the themes I wanted to explore were more complex,鈥� says Mr. Maguire, who raised three adopted children with his husband. 鈥淚t was a very easy jump for me to think, 鈥業f I want to write about the nature of evil, I鈥檒l take an evil character in a children鈥檚 book, and begin to unpack her and see what it was that, even as a child, I could determine were deeper constructs of passion and conflict within that character than we generally pay attention to.鈥欌��

Mr. Maguire鈥檚 literary reimagining is for mature readers. Its depiction of debauchery in Oz isn鈥檛 prurient, but readers expecting something akin to Baum鈥檚 children鈥檚 books will quickly realize, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not in Kansas anymore.鈥�

The musical and movie versions of 鈥淲icked鈥� are more family-friendly. Yet they retain the thematic core of the novel. Last year, Mr. Maguire visited London鈥檚 Elstree Studios to observe filming of a key scene in the movie.

The two witches meet at university. Popular girl Galinda (Ariana Grande) is saddled with an unwanted roommate, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo). The latter is a social outcast born with green skin and razor teeth. She also has an aversion to water. Galinda (later known as Glinda) hazes Elphaba. It鈥檚 鈥淢ean Girls: Oz Edition.鈥� But when Galinda sees the hurt behind her roommate鈥檚 stoic eyes, it arouses empathy within her.

鈥淎t least three times I had tears in my eyes,鈥� says Mr. Maguire, who spent three days watching the actors. 鈥淭he scenes where they were vulnerable, they had tears in their eyes.鈥�

A fuller picture of a complicated witch

鈥淲icked鈥� portrays Elphaba as a rounded human being. Her later deeds are the consequence of multiple factors and experiences rather than of one simple, reductive reason. (The upcoming 鈥淓lphie: A Wicked Childhood,鈥� based on chapters jettisoned from the first draft of 鈥淲icked,鈥� delves deeper into the witch鈥檚 troubled upbringing.) The novel鈥檚 nuanced complexity avoids didacticism. The world is dominated by binary thinking, says Mr. Maguire. Everything is black or white. There鈥檚 no space in the middle.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 definitely how a lot of us kind of get through the world as kids. It鈥檚 like, 鈥極K, this is bad; this is good; this is right; this is wrong,鈥欌�� says Emily Kay Shrader, co-host of 鈥淒own the Yellow Brick Pod,鈥� a podcast about the world of Oz, including Mr. Maguire鈥檚 鈥済enius鈥� novels. 鈥淭he most challenging thing about growing up is acknowledging that it鈥檚 such a spectrum. That whether it鈥檚 someone you meet on the street or it鈥檚 yourself, there鈥檚 really not a box that you can put anyone into.鈥�

Ms. Shrader adds that it鈥檚 a good reminder to check herself whenever she meets someone who has a different political background from her.

鈥淲e have gotten more and more used to thinking we can鈥檛 tolerate something that doesn鈥檛 line up with our string of ones or a string of zeros,鈥� agrees Mr. Maguire. 鈥淚t鈥檚 true about how culture talks [about] itself to us.鈥�

However, the novelist isn鈥檛 a moral relativist. After all, Elphaba becomes a terrorist to combat the nefarious wizard who rules Oz. 鈥淪he is not the evil witch from MGM or L. Frank Baum,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut she鈥檚 not a saint either. She makes lots of mistakes, and she鈥檚 morally confused. She鈥檚 willing to cause harm to people if she can, and if she can do it in order to further what she considers as a good cause.鈥�

Discerning the dividing line between good and evil isn鈥檛 always easy, the author says before he ushers his visitors on a tour of his 鈥淲icked鈥� memorabilia, ranging from figurines to umbrellas.

鈥淚t is a conundrum with which we have to live,鈥� says Mr. Maguire. But, he adds, we can鈥檛 stop asking ourselves that question. Avoiding doing so risks 鈥渢aking the easy way out and taking early retirement from our job of being moral agents in the universe.鈥�