Lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz shares the rewriting process that led to the new version of the song originally sung by Joel Grey and Idina Menzel.

Why the Wizard’s Wicked: For Good song ‘Wonderful’ was transformed to be more aggressive

Lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz shares the rewriting process that led to the new version of the song originally sung by Joel Grey and Idina Menzel.

By Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez is an Executive Editor at . Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on 'Today,' 'Extra!,' 'Access Hollywood,' 'E! News,' 'CNN,' and 'Nightline,' and can be seen frequently on 'Good Morning America.' Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things 'For All Mankind' 'Top Chef,' and puppy related.

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January 1, 2026 2:00 p.m. ET

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The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) in 'Wicked: For Good'. Credit:

Interpreting a character from stage to screen is always going to include changes — but *Wicked* composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz says Jeff Goldblum is a Wizard of a different color from the one we know from Broadway.

Those familiar with the original cast recording of *Wicked* will recall Broadway legend Joel Grey beginning the act 2 song "Wonderful" by demurely asking for Elphaba's pity: "I never asked for this / Or planned it in advance / I was merely blown here / By the winds of chance / I never saw myself / As a Solomon or Socrates / I knew who I was / One of your dime a dozen / Mediocrities".

But in *Wicked: For Good*, "the Wizard is coming from a different place. He's not apologizing anymore," Schwartz tells *.*

In the blockbuster film, Goldblum's Wizard instead begins the song with an all-too-relevant new intro: "Take it from a wise old carney / Once folks buy into your blarney / It becomes the thing they'll most hold on to / Once they've swallowed sham and hokum / Folks and logic won't unchoke 'em / They'll go on believing what they want to / Show them exactly what's the score / They'll just believe it even more."

"Here, he's obviously telling Elphaba that her point of view is incorrect, and that he knows better," Schwartz explains, "so it demanded a new lyric, and new music as well."**

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That wasn't the only change the *Wicked: For Good* team made. The film version also integrates Glinda (Ariana Grande) into the number, given that the song follows a newly added scene in which Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) secretly visits her old roommate ahead of the Good Witch's wedding.

"If we thought of it, we probably would've done it in the [stage] show, too," Schwartz says, "because I think it improves the sequence, and improves the storytelling. It just didn't occur to us at the time."

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"While working on the films, we realized that after 'Defying Gravity,' we don't have Elphaba and Glinda — the central relationship — in the same place at the same time for a very long time," he continues. "So we looked for, 'Well, how could we get them together sooner,' and came up with the idea that it could happen when Elphaba goes back to the Emerald City."

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande), and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) sing 'Wonderful' in 'Wicked: For Good'.

Not only did it solve their pink-and-green problem, but "it's also much more persuasive that Elphaba might change her mind and go along with this [plan of having her join the Oz government] if appealed to by her friend, rather than the Wizard, whom she already mistrusts," he concludes.

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Source: “EW Musical”