Wicked Costume Designer Paul Tazewell Wins the Academy Award

Paul Tazewell brought it home for the Wicked film, winning the Oscar for Costume Design at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2. It was his second Oscar nomination, having been nominated in the same category in 2022 for Stephen Spielberg's West Side Story remake. 

“I am the first Black man to receive the costume design award for my work on Wicked,” Tazewell said in his acceptance speech. He also thanked his “Ozian muses, Cynthia and Ariana." “This is everything.” 

Bowen Yang said in his introduction, "To be costumed by the great Paul Tazewell is one of the biggest honors of my alleged career." Look back at Tazewell's appearance on The Broadway Show, where he offered a look inside the fashions of Oz. 

Tazewell won a Tony Award in 2016 for his costume designs for Hamilton, and has been nominated eight additional times for his work on shows including In the Heights, Ain't Too Proud, MJ and Suffs. This season, he is represented on Broadway in the new musical Death Becomes Her. He also won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2016 for The Wiz Live! 

Wicked, directed for the screen by Jon M. Chu, came into the evening with 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and nods for its costars, Cynthia Erivo (future Tony Awards host) and Ariana Grande. The duo delivered a show-stopping opening medley of Ozian favorites, Grande singing "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, Erivo singing "Home" from The Wiz, and the pair dueting on Wicked's "Defying Gravity," ending in Erivo's now-famous battle cry.

The film also won the Oscar for Production Design (Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales). Chu's second Wicked film, Wicked: For Good, will be released in theaters November 21.

Wicked is currently running on Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre. The show's latest Elphaba-Glinda pair, Mary Kate Morrissey and Alexandra Socha, play their final performance on March 2. Lencia Kebede and Allie Trimm begin their runs as Elphaba and Glinda on March 4. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The production is directed by Joe Mantello with musical staging by Wayne Cilento.