Why Dorothy’s Slippers Aren’t Ruby

The ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland’s Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” might be the most recognizable shoes in cinematic history. But with the release of “Wicked: For Good” around the corner on Nov. 21, fans expecting to see the iconic slippers shouldn’t get their hopes up.

The famous footwear didn’t appear in the first “Wicked” movie and won’t show up in “Wicked: For Good” either. Instead, director Jon M. Chu remains faithful to the original book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” by L. Frank Baum, and the Broadway musical that “Wicked” adapts, by keeping the slippers silver.

Baum’s 1900 novel appeared at the tail end of the Gilded Age, a tumultuous time in American history that was marked by political tension and rapid industrialization. Consequently, many literary scholars believe that the book is heavily allegorical. They argue that the yellow brick road represents the gold standard favored by bankers and the elites, while the silver slippers represent the Silverite position of unions and populists who called for a less fixed money supply.

The decision to stay true to the silver slippers also stems from the fact that the rights to the ruby ones belong to MGM, now owned by Warner Bros., which cooked up Dorothy’s footwear for the 1939 film to highlight the Technicolor look (Baum’s book is in the public domain, but the movie is still copyrighted). The “Wicked” films are distributed by Universal Pictures.

“We had boundaries of what we could reference or not. We never use the ruby slippers,” Chu previously told Variety.

Yet the production team still found a way to nod to Dorothy’s iconic shoes, lighting them so they appear red in a key scene.

In the first film, it’s revealed that the shoes are an heirloom belonging to the family of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo). They make their first appearance when her father, Governor Thropp (Andy Nyman), gifts them to her sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), upon her arrival at Shiz University. It’s mentioned that they once belonged to their mother, and they are presented in a case encrusted in ruby red jewels in a reference to the shoes from the 1939 film. Costume designer Paul Tazewell added a tornado-shaped detail to the heel, a clever nod to the original twister that brought Dorothy from Kansas to Oz.

“Wicked: For Good” carries the ruby red allusions even further. Nessarose, who uses a wheelchair, is seen levitating after begging Elphaba to wield her magical powers to give her the ability to walk. As Nessarose climbs into the air, her silver slippers and the room are bathed in red lighting.

Cinematographer Alice Brooks used red in the film to reflect that Elphaba and Nessarose are making “the wrong choice.” As Elphaba’s powers grow stronger and Nessarose flies out of her chair, the shoes glow as if lit from within. “They get hotter and hotter, and that red became our most vibrant red,” Brooks says. For a moment, at least, the most dazzling pumps in all of Oz are back in the center of the frame.