You may not recognize the name, but in the world of costume design, Paul Tazewell is a recognized talent with a capital “t.” So much so that he appears on his way to ascending into the pantheon of lauded living costume designers that include legends such as Colleen Atwood, Sandy Powell, Jenny Beavan, Mark Bridges, and Ruth Carter. He’s already a Tony Award winner with nine nominations overall, an Emmy Award winner, and an Oscar nominee for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” With Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster “Wicked,” he may have pulled off the impossible, impressing not only his peers but the musical’s legion of fans all over the world.
READ MORE: Jon M. Chu on the surprising cameos that are more than cameos in “Wicked”
During our interview earlier this month, Tazewell reflected on his overall goal with the massive, two-part project.
“I think what was the priority was to create a world that was original and a world that we feel like we had never seen, but then also to make everything feel delightful in every crack and crevice and corner,” Tazewell explains. “It says that there is a sense of delight about how the world of Oz feels and looks and is inviting for the audience to come and want to enter into it. For me, it was wanting for the audience to want to wear every piece of clothing, really fall in love with the characters and to be really swept away by the story.”
Tazewell, who may be on the way to another Tony Award nomination with the stage adaptation of “Death Becomes Her,” also explained his historical inspirations for the costumes overall, Glinda’s unexpected independent streak, why Elphaba’s distinct fabrics were needed for the big screen, and much more.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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The Playlist: How did Jon approach you about doing the costumes for this project?
Paul Tazewell: I mean, I think that I was on his radar partly because I did the original “In The Heights” on Broadway, and he directed the film, and then he is great friends with Lin-Manuel Miranda. So, there was a connection there from “Hamilton,” and because of my work on “Hamilton” and “West Side Story,” I think that both he and [producer] Marc Platt decided it was a good idea to reach out to me.
Did you have to pitch?
I did. I think that there was a meeting where I put together what my initial inspiration might be for the world and how we were going to world build and we talked about characters and how we saw that and yeah, I mean it wasn’t offered up to me before I had a meeting with Jon definitely, but after that first meeting, I think they made the decision. It was great, surprised and delighted and everything was good and positive about being asked to do this wonderful film.
I don’t think the costumes have changed much throughout the Broadway and touring productions. Maybe they have?
Pretty much not. I mean it’s minimal, but for the most part, having designed on Broadway a lot, the design pretty much stays as it is. And then as you put new cast members in, they take on the same design that was originally established. But for this, it was very important for Jon to reimagine what the world of “Wicked” was going to be. And then we went about starting from scratch and figuring out what imagery would really tell the story best. And it’s a different event because it’s the world of movies and things, 360 and moment by moment. I mean, the experience is more expansive just because of the nature of what movies can do versus a musical on Broadway. So, the task of establishing what that world is, which is very full, comparing it to the Broadway musical, I wouldn’t say that it was more challenging necessarily. It was just a very full task to open up the world, which was really wonderful.
Just out of curiosity, is there a historical reference that you started with? Is it the late 1800s? Is it the early 1900s? Especially the people in Oz, what is the reference point for you?
I mean, we started with really the 1930s movie of “The Wizard of Oz” because that’s what really establishes…I mean, we looked at a lot of imagery, the original illustrations from the [L. Frank] Baum book. So that was definitely an influence in style. But I think what’s in the minds and the overall zeitgeist of “The Wizard of Oz,” which is what Gregory Maguire’s novel is addressing and turning on its head thematically, we decided to go there for much of our inspiration and then see how we were going to translate what a lot of those icons are from that film and then what it becomes when we enter into this production of “Wicked.” To answer your question, yes, I was looking at the turn of the century because that was when the original bound book was written. Yes, I was looking at the 1930s film because that is what we as Americans and also globally we have in our heads about “The Wizard of Oz,” and then there are other elements that come into play as I want to see this story through the lens of 2024 and how we see people in storytelling and fantasy worlds. I think what was the priority was to create a world that was original and a world that we feel like we had never seen, but then also to make everything feel delightful in every crack and crevice and corner. It says that there is a sense of delight about how the world of Oz feels and looks, and is inviting for the audience to come and want to enter into it. For me, it was wanting for the audience to want to wear every piece of clothing, really fall in love with the characters, and to be really swept away by the story.
One of the things I adored was Elphaba’s costumes in terms of the textures we see on screen. Listen in a movie you see much more detail. It’s not like on stage where you’re sort of designing for the back row in many ways, but you still need it to be seen and so much of her palette is dark. How hard was it to make that work?
Well, that was part of why I infused so much texture into her clothes. I mean, there are two themes that are very important. It’s one of empowerment and self-empowerment and finding yourself as a young person, as a young woman. And then it’s also this bond of these two amazing young women coming together and, because they’re opposites, how that synergy creates this amazing bond that then carries them into their maturity. I feel that it is somewhat simpler to show elegance and beauty with the sparkle and lighter colors and just everything that symbolizes Glinda and her world. We’re very much attuned to princess dresses and that kind of Hollywood elegance. When you’re thinking about rendering somebody in a black color palette, you have to figure out ways of making it just as interesting, and it was a priority for me to make Elphaba feel just as interesting. It was definitely a priority to make her feel as beautiful as Glinda and that her choices were as considered for Elphaba as they were for Glinda. So, there’s a balance between the two. It just so happens that Elphaba chooses to define herself in a palette of dark tones. With Glinda, she chooses to define herself with pink. As it’s inspired by the 1930s film The Wicked Witch of the West, and how we remember her, how we know her as an icon, but it’s having that story make sense or creating clues that allow for you to make sense of how they create themselves.
How do you see Glinda’s transformation through her wardrobe throughout the film?
With Glinda, you find a young woman who has been cultured and taught to use kindness and politeness and just everything that is light and effervescent to define her attractiveness to other people. That’s what pulls other people in, and that’s what other people want to identify with. So, it was important to establish her as this kind of vision of perfection that she is very much in control of how she’s going to represent that. I mean, when she enters in, she floats in. She is indeed in a uniform, but it’s a uniform of her own making. It’s within some of the rules of Shiz with the pinstripe, but she’s choosing her own color palette to then render that pattern in, or the stripe pattern in and using pink as well, of course. And when she’s surrounded by pink and that’s her world and that’s what is attractive to the other students of Shiz. I think then we start this journey when the two of them end up in the same room and what their effect is on each other, and how they actually balance each other and with that closeness all the way up to when they’re taking off for Emerald City.
And then you see that they’re basically the same silhouette. They’re just two different, just two different color choices or two different color palettes that are represented, but in a very simple way silhouette-wise. They’re very, very much the same. And that was important for me to show that balance and that place of ground zero. And then they make decisions about what they’re going to do next, how they will relate to the public. Elphaba is very forceful about what is important for her advocation for animals and what she feels is the right thing to do, whereas Glinda’s decisions are much more political and she’s still on the fence about how she’s relating to people and being seen as good versus someone who’s actually doing good and being vilified and being seen as evil. So, I think that is a very strong balance that we are a part of, and then we see how they split.
I did want to also ask you about Madam Morrible outfits because she seems like she’s on a much different journey. What was the thought process behind designing her and what would you say her color palette was?
I would say it was most important for us as the audience members and also the characters to really love the character of Madam Morrible. Other than Elphaba, she’s the only character that has any kind of magical power where Morrible is in control of the weather, and you see that reflected in her clothing. There are all kinds of stars and moons and the astrological or the astronomy, that imagery that is embroidered into a wardrobe and that carries through into the second film as well. And then you see it also in her hair design and the kind of windswept cloud of hair that you see. The colors that were chosen were then keeping her lighter, more inviting, dramatic, definitely, and also very elegant, which is also reflective of who Michelle Yo is and how she wears clothing, but really keeping her from being too scary. She’s not a threat until you realize, “Oh no, this woman is really a threat to the way that Oz is oriented and in cahoots with the Wizard.” So, it was important to show that contrast and not give it away until we actually see her walk in the Emerald Palace.
“Wicked” is now playing nationwide
