‘Wicked’ Costume Designer Paul Tazewell Returns to Oz

Paul Tazewell was 16 years old and living in Akron, Ohio, the first time he designed costumes for “The Wiz.” It was a high school production, and much of the work happened in his family’s dining room.

He has been summoned back to Oz several times since that first show — a workshop here, an NBC broadcast there. So when the director Jon M. Chu asked him to design the costumes for Universal’s long-awaited film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked,” there was little learning curve to speak of.

A prequel of sorts to “The Wizard of Oz,” “Wicked” centers on two reluctant roommates at Shiz University: Galinda, an effervescent daughter of privilege who goes on to drop a vowel (that first “a”), and Elphaba, a green-skinned outcast who goes on to pick up a title (the Wicked Witch of the West).

By the time Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were brought on board to play the film’s lead witches, Mr. Tazewell, 60, a Tony Award winner for his work on “Hamilton,” was already off to the races on his own preparations, collecting images of mushroom caps and bisected seashells for inspiration.