A few years ago, social media exploded with the announcement of the casting for the movie adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical "Wicked." The musical is based on the 1995 book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire.
The announcement named pop star Ariana Grande as Glinda and Tony Award-winning Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba. The casting choices were questionable back then, but after the release of the film, all of the concerns and preconceived notions of the film would be proven wrong.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 90% critic score and a 97% audience score after it was released in theaters Friday. The film has a star-studded cast including Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, Peter Dinklage as Dr. Dillamond and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. The cast were all perfectly chosen for their roles and gave justice to the original Broadway cast.
The 2024 film adaption of the musical serves as a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” showing the origin of the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and her friendship at school with Glinda the Good Witch. It dives into their complex relationship beginning at Shiz University, where Elphaba faces prejudice due to the green color of her skin and magical abilities while Glinda is a self-absorbed socialite.
As the story continues, the bond between Elphaba and Glinda blossoms into a loving friendship over shared experiences and conflicts. The film has many different themes of identity and power, leaving the audience feeling moved.
“Wicked” defies expectations through the two actors playing the most iconic witches in pop culture. The movie opens in Munchkinland, where they are celebrating the Wicked Witch’s death. Grande brings excellent emotion to the scene showing her conflict around whether she should be celebrating the death of the “Wicked Witch,” her friend. All of her emotions can be felt through the screen, something that is hard to do in live theater.
The film’s two-hour and 40-minute runtime is questionable, considering it is the runtime for the entire Broadway musical with a 15-minute intermission. After viewers watch the opening scene, it makes sense why there is a two-part film adaptation.
The problem with the Broadway version is it has trouble with pacing to fit everything with as much emotion and build. The director, Jon M. Chu, wanted to let the story breathe and come to life, so he spent more time getting a deeper understanding of Elphaba’s backstory.
The longer runtime allows the audience to get a richer understanding of Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship. It felt as if the characters could finally earn an emotional response that felt rushed in the stage show. The audience better understood Elphaba’s passion for the conflict of animals in Oz. If someone were to only see the Broadway show once, it may feel rushed and like parts of the storyline don’t make sense because of the limited stage time.
The music and choreography of a musical film are some of the hardest things to pull off, but Chu did a fantastic job pulling off a masterpiece with his crew. A lot of the musical numbers were performed live during filming, allowing the actors to pull off a more natural and fantastic performance.
Grande and Erivo also insisted on singing live on set, which really shows on screen. The two work extremely well together and their voices blend beautifully to give justice to the iconic roles of Elphaba and Glinda.
Bailey truly made the number “Dancing Through Life” his own. It was noted that Bailey spent time practicing in his dressing room during his time filming “Bridgerton,” and his hard work really paid off. His charm, singing and dancing added a lot of love to the character Fiyero, and it would be remiss to not talk about his performance.
One of the biggest moments in the film to note is Grande’s performance as Glinda singing the iconic song, “Popular.” Grande embodied Kristin Chenoweth’s version of Glinda but gave the character her own twist with her vocals and comedy. She makes the audience forget she’s a pop star because she is truly Glinda.
Erivo’s performance in “Defying Gravity” is another moment that needs discussion. Erivo did all of her own stunts during this scene while singing. An Oscar may be in her future, and it would be great to see her become one of the youngest people to earn EGOT status.
The film ends with Erivo’s version of the “Defying Gravity” battle cry that leaves the audience feeling moved.
“Wicked” is a must-see if you are a fan of the Broadway version of the musical, and the only bad thing about this film is the wait for the next part. Even if you have never seen the show, it is very well done and the year-long wait for part two will be worth it.
Rating: 4.75/5
