Eric Stoltz home
October 30, 2003
The event was at a Barnes & Noble, with Winnie Holzman and Gregory Maguire. He's the author of the book Wicked: The Life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, she's the playwright or lyricist of the Broadway musical Wicked, inspired by Maguire's book. The event was sort of a discussion between the two of them and what inspired them -- he to write the book, she to turn it into a musical. She'd never written a musical before. I got the impression most people were there for Maguire. His book’s been on my To Read list for a while, but I wasn’t planning on buying it then. But as they talked, I thought it would be pretty cool to have a book signed by the two of them, so I bought a copy.
(Now, if you think about it, Wicked the book is kind of like fan fiction, because it is Maguire's take on The Wizard of Oz. And Wicked the musical is further fan fiction, because it is Winnie's take on a book by Maguire. Ultimately, is all fiction derivative?)
Anyway, they talked for about half an hour, and then it was Q&A time. There were about 100 + people there – and Winnie picked moi for the first question: Why Winnie to write the musical? One of those right-place-right-time situations. Blah blah, more questions, then signing time, and I got in line. And I talked with her – I told her I had written to her last year, and she wrote back, and she said she remembered my letter, and I said I had admired her writing, and in particular enjoyed the Dimitri-Grace story line, and she nodded and smiled and said, “Oh yes – that was one of my favorites. I was really glad we were able to do that.” I asked her what inspired it, was it based on anything, and she said, “No, it was just – it was a story I had in mind for a long time.”
I said I thought she handled a storyline that is often handled in an exploitative way in a sensitive and different way (I refrained from saying “in a way that’s really hard to describe, and rare, and really valuable”), and she said that was what she was trying to do. I said I hoped to see more TV by her, and she said she is, in fact, working on another series, again with “those guys,” meaning Herskovitz and Zwick, name as yet to be determined.
Very cool.
And here’s another very cool thing. After the Q&A and before the signing, they had a raffle. They gave away T-shirts and posters from Wicked the musical. And they gave away three pairs of tickets to the show, which has been in previews. And I won!!! So the next night, I had orchestra seats. The show was a lot of fun, and I think it will go far. (Go to http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked.htm for more info.) The official opening is Thursday, and it was sold out when I saw it last night.
So, that’s my Winnie Holzman story.