Wicked Author Gregory Maguire Pens a Play
Gregory Maguire, author of the critically acclaimed novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” which was turned into an award winning and top grossing Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, has signed on to write a play to appear in “Grimm”, which features a series of interrelated, Brothers Grimm-inspired plays written by different playwrights in Boston.
Maguire, having known to do great spins on popular novels and stories like what he did with L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz” from which he based the “Wicked” novel, will now be applying his expertise on creating “what if” situations with his take on the classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” when he writes the play “The Seven Stage a Comeback” which is a modern, complex and dynamically twisted story of the seven dwarfs trying to reconnect with Snow White.
“Just because they were dwarfs doesn’t mean they were neutered”, first-time playwright Maguire says in an interview. He also adds, “If they had more complexity, what would they make of the story?” The basis for the play is a novel of the same title which Maguire also penned and is part of “The Wolf at the Door”, which is a compilation of a variety of classic fairy tales as spun by different writers. The compilation was released in 2000.
“Grimm” is a project of the Boston Center for the Arts’ Company One, who offered the playwright post for the “Seven Stage” novel to Maguire. “Grimm” is currently being shown at the Boston Center for the Arts until August 14. Also included in the “Grimm” production series is Lydia R. Diamond’s take on “Bluest Eye” which is a Toni Morrison original and “On the Levee”, co-written by Marcus Gardley.
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