Wicked Review

Wicked has been one of one of the biggest stage musicals on Broadway and the film adaptation has been long waited for by musical theatre fans. The first Wicked film has a lot to live up to.

Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) has been an outcast since birth due to being born with green skin and has developed a defensive personality. When her younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode) gets admitted into Shiz University, their father (Andy Nyman) tasks Elphaba to look after Nessa. At Shiz, Madame Morrible (Melissa Yeoh) offers to teach Elphaba how to use her magical powers and puts the green skin woman in a collision with Galinda (Ariana Grande), who aspires to be a sorceress.

Wicked is a great musical and its popularity has endured. It has been on Broadway for over 20 years and on the West End for 18 years. “Defying Gravity” has been seen as a definitive show tune, alongside songs like “I Dreamed a Dream” and “Memory”. I saw it in 2012 at the Apollo Theatre and I enjoyed it a lot, but I was sceptical about the film adaptation because Wicked just told the first act of the musical. The first film was longer than the stage version and I feared that it was a cynical attempt by Universal to milk as much money out of the property as possible. Fortunately, these fears were unfounded since the first part of Wicked was a fantastic adaptation that will delight musical fans.

Within the musical there’s a time jump between the acts, so it acted as a natural break for the films. The first act had character arcs that could be translated into a film format. Elphaba wanted to impress her dad who hated her and meet the Wizard so he could change her skin. Elphaba and Galinda formed a rivalry with each other that evolved into a friendship or at least a frenemy situation. Finally, Elphaba wanted to fight for the rights of the animals of Oz who were suffering from discrimination. The film added a reason regarding Elphaba’s affinity with the animals of Oz.

Wicked did have an air of the Harry Potter movie series. There was a school setting where Elphaba was having a magical education. The school was a fantastical place and there were more grounded issues like friendships, rivalries, and romances. There was also a wider school about the animals before being forced out of work, going into hiding, and losing the power of speech. The production designers and special effects artists deserve a lot of praise for making Oz look fantastical yet lived in and they will probably get some nominations for technical awards. There were great visual touches that wouldn’t have been possible in the stage show, like the reveal of a mural. Fans of other Wizard of Oz media will enjoy some of the subtle references.

Vera Wylde of Council of Geeks pointed out in their video about Wicked that it had a small song-to-runtime ratio as Joker: Folie à Deux. This was a worry, but it was unfounded because the songs in Wicked were longer and they were filled with colour and life. The film was directed by Jon M. Chu, a man who got his filmmaking start with the Step-Up franchise and directed another musical adaptation, In the Heights. Chu knows how to construct big all-singing, all-musical spectacles, and Wicked was filled with it. The film did keep some of the dialogue breaks and other moments, like Elphaba’s dance in “Dancing Through Life” and the Wicked declaration in “Defying Gravity.” These moments have been cut from the Broadway recording. The length of the film ensured that no songs were cut, any changes were minor and one song even got an extension. Wicked avoided the mistake the Mean Girls musical movie did which cut out 14 songs.

Elphaba and Glinda were highly sought-after roles and due to the long production process, there have been many actresses linked to the roles. This included Lea Michele, Amy Adams, and Amanda Seyfried. I advocated for Samantha Barks to play Elphaba. Wicked did end up with a pair of great actors. Erivo has a growing reputation; she has been nominated for an Oscar and she nailed the big songs like “The Wizard and I” and “Defying Gravity.” Elphaba developed a sense of wit and a sharp tongue as a defensive mechanism. Grande has played ditzy characters before, as seen in her Nickelodeon days, and she does it again as Glinda. The character was vain and vacuous yet pretending to be kind. She eventually becomes more than a shallow popular girl. Grande was the complete package with her singing, dancing, and acting.

Wicked had been heavily promoted and there have been tie-ins with numerous companies. My local made a big deal of the film with the staff dressed in green and pink, and the foyer was decorated in these colours. My screening was nearly full and it was filled with mostly women and girls. Wicked was 2024’s Barbie since it was a joyous film that was proud of its femininity. Wicked’s success is good for the box office and improves audience diversity. However, the long runtime was a test on my bladder, let alone a young child’s.

Wicked was a wonderous musical adaptation that will delight fans of the stage show, musicals, and the world of L. Frank Baum. It’s a joyous experience that audiences need.