Doctor Dillamond
 |
| Doctor Dillamond | |
|---|---|
| File:Doctordillamond.jpg Doctor Dillamond with Elphaba | |
| First appearance | Wicked (1995) |
| Last appearance | Wicked (1995) |
| Created by | Gregory Maguire |
| Portrayed by | William Youmans |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Goat |
| Gender | male |
| Occupation | Teacher at Shiz |
Doctor Dillamond is a character in author Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The character also appears in the Broadway musical and West End theatre musical Wicked which is based on Maguire's novel. In both versions, Doctor Dillamond is a Goat who has the ability to speak and interact with humans. He is a professor at Shiz University. Because he is the only Animal professor at Shiz ("Animals" starting with a capital letter, like "Goat", are sentient beings), he is subjected to discrimination from his students and colleagues. However, Elphaba (the future Wicked Witch of the West) takes a liking to him. Doctor Dillamond causes the character of Galinda to change her name to simply "Glinda," because he cannot pronounce the first syllable.
Novel
In Maguire's novel, Doctor Dillamond is a Life Science teacher at Shiz. He was once widely revered for his knowledge and experience, but at the time of the novel, the Wizard is putting forth a series of laws that restrict the rights of Animals, and these have greatly diminished the Doctor's influence. Doctor Dillamond is assisted by Elphaba and a Munchkin named Boq in researching and conducting some controversial experiments to discover the biological differences between humans, animals and sentient Animals, with the hope of proving that, since humans and Animals are the same, the Wizard's Banns have no scientific basis. Eventually, another character, Ama Clutch finds him dead in his office, his throat having been slit. Ama Clutch later claims that the Goat was murdered by Grommetik, the mechanical servant of headmistress Madame Morrible. However, this statement is never conclusively proven. Morrible claims that Dillamond fell on a broken magnifying lens, and that Grommetik, finding him lying on the ground, had merely been checking for a pulse when Ama Clutch arrived. Elphaba remains certain that Dillamond was murdered, and continues his experiments later in life.
Musical
In the musical adaptation of Maguire's work, Doctor Dillamond teaches History as opposed to Life Science. He is the unfortunate victim of the The Wizard's attempts at controlling the Animal population - especially those that he fears might be teaching subversive or anti-Wizard material. Arrested and removed from his position at Shiz University, Dillamond is transformed into a regular, non-speaking, non-communicating goat. This confirms his earlier worries expressed in the song "Something Bad," in which he tells Elphaba about rumors of Animals losing their powers of speech.
When Elphaba discovers Dillamond as a prisoner that can no longer speak, she resists the Wizard's offer to set the Ozians straight about her reputation, an enormous step in her transformation into the Wicked Witch of the West.
Glinda says during the show that she will continue Elphaba's work. This does imply that Doctor Dillamond could be turned back to normal.
Doctor Dillamond was played in the original Broadway production by William Youmans, who had replaced John Horton from the out-of-town San Francisco tryouts.
On tour he is currently played by Paul Slade Smith, in the West End by Andy Mace, in Suttgart by Michael Günther, in Melborune by Rodney Dobson and in the new San Francisco production by Tom Flynn.
