50 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2024 
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WICKED, THE MUSICAL, AND 
GLADIATOR II, A SEQUEL
Wicked, the huge musical stage hit, 
has finally been made into a film, 
and it will open in theaters on Nov. 
22. The stage musical premiered 
in 2003. The musical’s story was 
loosely based on a 1995 novel 
entitled Wicked. The novel drew 
on the original (early 20th century) 
Oz novels, but it had a “different 
spin” about the origins and lives of 
the “Good Witch” and the “Wicked 
Witch.”
Top Broadway composer/lyricist 
Stephen Schwartz, now 76, “stum-
bled” (1996) on the 1995 novel, and 
he thought it would be a good play 
and/or musical. After much trouble, 
Schwartz got the rights to use the 
novel as a basis for a Broadway 
musical. Schwartz re-wrote or 
re-worked a lot of the material in 
the novel. He wrote all the songs, 
too.
Winnie Holzman, now 70, wrote 
original scenes and dialogue 
for the musical. She is credit-
ed as the Wicked “book” writer 
(stage and movie versions).
The original Broadway musical 
co-starred Idina Menzel, now 53, 
as the Wicked Witch/AKA Elphaba 
Thropp. Joel Grey, now 92, played 
the Wizard of Oz. 
In the new film, Cynthia Erivo, 
a British actress, plays the green-
skinned Elphaba Thropp (she’s 
known later as the Wicked Witch). 
Jeff Goldblum, 71, plays the Wizard 
of Oz in the new film.
Ethan Slater, 32, has a biggish 
film role as Boq Woodsman, a 
Munchkin in love with Galinda (later 
known as the Good Witch of the 
North. Galinda is played by Ariana 
Grande). 
Slater grew up in the Washington, 
D.C., suburbs. He was raised in a 
Conservative home, and he went 
to a Jewish day school for several 
years. He’s had many TV guest 
shots. But he’s best known as a 
Broadway musical star (Sponge 
Bob Square Pants and Spamalot.)

Andy Nyman, 58, has a some-
what smaller role than Slater. He 
plays Frexspar Thropp, Elphaba 
and Nessarose’s father. He’s also 
the Governor of Munchkinland. 
(Nessarose is Elphaba’s younger, 
paraplegic sister. She’s later known 
as the Wicked Witch of the East.)
Nyman is an English Jew. He’s a 
fixture in British TV and stage pro-
ductions. His Jewish roles include 
playing a Polish Jewish resistance 
fighter in Uprising, a 2001 Emmy-
winning film about the Warsaw 
Ghetto uprising; Tevye in a British 
2018 revival of Fiddler on the Roof; 
and Max Bialystock in a British 
revival (2023-4) of The Producers. 
Nyman had a bar mitzvah cer-
emony, and he went to a Jewish 
summer camp. In one interview, he 
said he wished that he could be 
more observant. But, he said, he 
recites the Shema every day. 
Also opening on Nov. 22 is 
Gladiator II, a “kind-of” sequel to 
Gladiator, a 2000 mega-hit film that 
took place in ancient Rome (c. 177-
192). Ridley Scott, now 86, direct-
ed both films. Both films take big 
liberties with history. For example, 
Maximus (see below) didn’t really 
exist. 
In the original, Maximus (Russell 
Crowe), a heroic Roman general, 
despises Commodus (who became 
Rome’s emperor in 177, C.E.). 
Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) 
hates Maximus back, and he has 
Maximus’ wife and child killed. 
Maximus eludes arrest, but slavers, 
not knowing who he is, capture 
him and sell him to fight as a (slave) 

gladiator in arenas. 
Maximus’ identity is revealed in 
arena fights in front of Commodus. 
Shortly after the “reveal,” Maximus 
tries and fails to lead a revolt 
against Commodus. But he does 
manage to kill Commodus in the 
arena, and he dies shortly thereaf-
ter. 
The sequel is set around 
198 to 211. Maximus had a son, 
Lucius, with Lucilla, the sister of 
Commodus. As the sequel starts, 
Lucius is a young man, living 
peacefully in North Africa, when 
Roman soldiers arrest him. Like 
Maximus, his wife is killed, and 
Lucius is made to be a gladia-
tor-slave. 
Lucius really hates Geta and 
Caracalla, unstable brothers who 
govern as Rome’s co-emper-
ors. Fred Hechinger, 24, plays 
Caracalla. He broke-out with a 
biggish supporting role in News 
of the World (2021), a Tom Hanks’ 
movie, and he’s co-starred in good 
series, like White Lotus. The actor’s 
late grandfather, also named Fred
Hechinger, fled Nazi Germany in 
1936, and became a prominent NY 
Times editor/education writer. His 
other “grands” were Jewish, too.

Lior Raz, 52, plays Vigo, a former 
gladiator who trains gladiators for 
the arena. Raz has too much bio 
to relay here: born and raised in 
Israel, the son of Jews from Arab 
countries, he became an elite com-
mando in the IDF — then Arnold 
Schwarzenegger’s bodyguard — 
and then a lot of smallish acting 
roles. 
Lucius’ wife (played by Yuval 
Gonen) is murdered early on in the 
sequel. I know that Gonen is a pret-
ty, young Israeli actress with a few 
credits. But, right now, there is very 
little bio out there. 

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE

GAGE SKIDMORE

Jeff Goldblum

Andy Nyman

IMDB

Ethan Slater

CRAZY AMANDA REACTS! 

