#evillene

@fantasyblr week: Day 4 (Oct. 30) – characters of colour

One Dress a Day Challenge

August: Fantasy & Sci-Fi

The Wiz / Mabel King as Evillene (the Wicked Witch of the West)

The amount of detail in this costume is phenomenal. Every bit of the surface is covered with ornamentation of one sort or another. But somehow, despite the bright colors, it doesn't look cheery at all--quite the opposite, in fact. It seems at once junky and sinister, like a trash heap full of broken jewelry that has come to life.

There is only one direct adaptation of the novel-Wicked Witch who gained an autonomy and a fame able to rival with the MGM-Witch. I am speaking of course of the Wicked Witch of The Wiz: Evillene of the West.

Evillene gained life in the original 70s Detroit/Broadway musical "The Wiz", played by Mabel King. Already you had a VERY iconic outfit - a crazy hairdo like the Good Witches, but all dressed in black with violent red highlights (as opposed to the soft blue or pastel pink of the Good Witches) ; a large body highlighted by the equally large dress (which is quite interesting as the Wicked Witch of the West is VERY rarely depicted as fat), and of course the iconic eyes-on-the-chest symbolizing Evillene's constant surveillance over her enslaved subjects.

Later, this enormous stage success was adapted as a... divisive though cult movie, 1978's The Wiz in which Mabel King took back her role for the witch Evillene, but with quite a stylistic change. Instead of black, her dominant color became red. The aggressive, hostile makeup was replaced with caricatural prosthetics echoing the ones worn by Hamilton to deform her face as the Wicked Witch. The dress became a clunky accumulation and an overload of ornaments, reflecting Evillene's nature as a massively wealthy hoarder mixing riches with junk - see the caricatural headwear made of several crowns piled up together in a helmet. The choice of red was notably to clash with the outfit of the Good Witches, who both wore blue (blue and red being the two "dominant" colors on each side of the green of the Wizard, in the color spectrum).

Another important actress who embodied Evillene in her "early days" is Ella Mitchell - she first played the role after Mabel King, in the 1976 version of the show, and then took back the role for the 1984 and 1992 versions of the musical. Due to crossing over the decades, her Evillene went through various costumes. From one mimicking Mabel King's in the 70s, to her 80s outfit which had more of a "cute evil" thing going on - she still was an evil witch dressed in black and purple but was ornated with butterflies, snowflake-shaped flowers and other leafy, "natural" jewels - all the way to the 90s one where she had a more "stereotypical" children fiction witch look, with an abundance of bats, skulls, spiderwebs and other "Halloween-y" symbols on her costume.

I unfortunately cannot list all of the actresses of Evillene and productions of "The Wiz", because there's a very rich history in there - so I'll limit myself to two more examples.

On one side Mary J. Blige's portrayal of Evillene in "The Wiz Live!", which is another example of - yes I am still going on about it - the glamorization of the Wicked Witch of the West, as Evillene becomes a statuesque, dominating beauty and her dark, bizarre dress looks more like futuristic evil haute-couture.

On the other, Melody A. Betts in the recent 2024 production of "The Wiz". In this production all of the witches are dressed in various shades of yellow, but as opposed to the light and gold yellow of the Good Witches, Evillene's shades are darker yellow and a lot of oranges, reflecting a strong fire motif. You also note a shift in terms of style, as the witch has a more "proper upper-class lady caricature" vibe going on (the collar ornaments evoking a pearl necklace, the gloves, the hairdo).

Happy Black History Month, I say as someone who is white as Tartarus lol. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe. What do you guys think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. You can also follow me on these social media accounts.

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Credit for my character stills goes to my good friend, @gem-among-gems. If you would like some stills for yourself, she can make some for you and can do it in any style.

Also, go check out these AWESOME videos from @musicalhell, especially since it was her review of the 1978 movie adaptation that got me to check out the original stage version, which is one of my favorite Broadway shows. Especially if you want to learn a little about the history of the show.

They’re like:

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