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

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Jeff Goldblum

Andy Nyman

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Ethan Slater

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