L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” was adapted into a musical film, The Wizard of Oz” (1939) starring Judy Garland. Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” is an unofficial prequel to Baum’s novel and inspired Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz to adapt Maguire’s work into a Broadway musical. “Wicked” or “Wicked: Part I” (2024) is a faithful adaptation of the Broadway musical’s first act. The second act and sequel, “Wicked Part Two,” will be released in two years. After Dorothy Gale’s off-screen execution of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), the movie begins with the ensuing celebration. Glinda the Good Witch of the West, formerly Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande), admits that she knew Elphaba in college, and the film depicts Glinda’s story, which begins at Elphaba’s conception and ends at how she became wicked.
This review is not for the hard core “Wicked” fans, but for those who have never read the book or seen the musical but know enough to credit Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel as the original Broadway cast members who played Galinda and Elphaba respectively. I was interested in seeing it because I have a pulse, enjoy musicals, and try not to miss Erivo in any movie. Having a Black woman playing a green-skinned witch is an on the nose metaphor for how people demonize Black people or anyone for being different, but some of the denigration feels lifted straight out of the racism playbook. While it is particularly obvious in this adaptation, actors of other races and skin tones played Elphaba so hopefully people won’t change their tune and start to complain about making a fantasy adventure story about race when it seems to be the point. Elphaba is not only feared for her appearance, but whatever Elphaba does, especially if it involves sticking up for herself or anyone else who is othered, such as disabled people or speaking animals, she faces rebuke, including from her (legal) father, Frexspar Thropp (Andy Nyman), the Munchkinland Governor. No one accepts her, but things start to look up when the Headmistress of Shiz, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), pays her special attention and praises her for being different and dangles the possibility of acceptance from the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
Meanwhile Galinda is the opposite. Everyone loves her, including herself. In her “Legally Blonde”/”Barbie” pink, she stands out in the sea of blue-clad students and initially loathes Elphaba for doing the same and having the one thing that she does not: a class with Madame Morrible. The movie also sets up a potential new conflict over a boy, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), the most conventionally attractive man on campus. Galinda gets the entire academic body to turn against Elphaba, which is not a heavy lift. Instead of pulling a Carrie, Stephen King reference, Elphaba maintains her dignity and stays true to herself. While Galinda enjoys the attention that she gains from being good, Elphaba is good in secret, which plot twist, inspires Galinda to stop being a raging entitled bitch. Other than the animals and Elphaba, everyone is horrible in this movie, and it is hard to stomach watching such dreadful people. The fact that there is hope for Galinda is genuinely shocking, but there are plenty more twists and turns.
Watching “Wicked” so soon after “The Brutalist” (2024), it is hard not to see the common themes in these stories, particularly the idea of power versus talent and pet versus threat. While magic is real, some people talk a big game but are Rube Goldbergian masters with smoke and mirrors. Others are the real deal, grateful for scraps and suffering from imposter syndrome after the powerful have tortured and manipulated the talented into feeling less so they do not recognize they are more. Once the talented become aware of the truth, the powerful destroy them to maintain the illusion and their power. The movies serve different audiences, and it is an essential lesson to disperse broadly. It is good that in a day and age where critical thinking is discouraged, and revisionist history proliferates the classrooms of Shiz University and ours, the lesson gets packaged into a technicolor spectacle filled epic that makes the medicine go down smoother. Will people get it even though the message is literally being sung from the rooftops? Shrug. Maybe?
“Wicked” is perfectly executed according to a friend from college, a theater kid/actor/singer, who could give a TED Talk on the material while performing every role. She sang along until the story swept her away, and she was enraptured. I would have happily watched “The Brutalist,” which is way longer and passed so quickly, two times in a row. While it was entertaining, I did not connect with “Wicked” on an emotional, bone-deep level, and I knew when it was supposed to gut punch me. I wanted to feel, but it never happened. It could be my fault because I got life-changing news as I was leaving for the theater, but it should have made me more vulnerable to cinematic emotional manipulation, and it never happened.
If I had to complain, the entire stage musical is 165 minutes long, and “Wicked Part One” is five minutes shorter. While intellectually I understand that the first part is to give the spotlight to Galinda, and the second part is devoted to Elphaba, it seems insane to expand a product that was already balanced and complete. The cheese does not stand alone. If I was not invited to see the movie, I would wait until both parts were available to watch the whole thing so I could appreciate the entire emotional landscape of the story. As it is, the story elements do not feel blended together, but episodic. For example, the speaking animal persecution storyline goes in and out of focus to move things along but feels like an afterthought to underscore the persecution that Elphaba endures. Regardless of how superb “Wicked” is, if I had known that animals would be in danger, especially cats, I probably would have skipped the movie. It was delicious that in a spontaneous act of uncontrollable magic, the image of Oz crumbles to reflect a fresco of speaking animals as the true founders of Shiz, which also felt like a shout out to “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) when Hela reveals her role in Asgard history, but with a different effect.
Director Jon M. Chu, whom I enjoyed from his early days of directing “The LXD,” got critical acclaim for his work in “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) and “In the Heights” (2021). While only time will tell if his vision, aided with the help of CGI, will hold up as well as a staple for future audiences like “The Wizard of Oz,” Chu has proven to be the rare consistently, commercially successful director to make a musical and make it appeal to the masses instead of bombing or flopping. Musicals like “Emilia Pérez” (2024) and “Joker: Folie à Deux” (2024) are not exactly lighting the world on fire, and “Piece by Piece” (2024) feels like a cheat since it is a recap of Billboard hits. The most recent, decent American musicals were from 2023, “The Color Purple” and “Wonka.” In the US, many twenty first century musicals feel more like Disneyfied productions unable to strike the balance between realism and fantasy with tunes that you want to play on repeat, and “Wicked” is no exception unless you come to the movie already knowing everything about it. Perfection is not human.
It was a surprise that though I came for Erivo, the enduring memory from “Wicked” is Grande committing to the role so hard that she is swimming on the wooden floor around Erivo in their characters’ dorm room. There are a couple of cameos that made me scream with delight. In the end, my wallet is safe from purchasing the soundtrack, but I will be back next time. Maybe then I too can get transported, turn off my brain and feel.
