Wicked

The Wizard of Oz is one of those films that I cannot remember when I first saw it. It’s just always been a part of my life, and I can recite every song and quote every line. As a child, I was enchanted by the black-and-white photography transitioning into Technicolor and just being captivated by the magic that moment portrayed. I do remember where I was when my parents took me to the theater to see Return to Oz. That film didn’t possess the same level of magic, but as a child, I was still enthralled. As an adult, I have nostalgia for the film and still watch it from time to time. I have, however, never read one of Frank Baum’s Oz novels; it’s just never been on my reading list. By the time I transitioned out of early readers, I was getting into The Hardy Boys, and then I graduated into adult novels. Baum’s Oz books were just not on my list.

By the time Gregory Maguire’s book, Wicked, hit bookshelves in 1995, I was already out of high school, and the idea of reading anything Wizard of Oz adjacent was just nonexistent. The book came and went, and I was unaware of its existence. None of this came into my sphere of knowledge until I started hearing about a Broadway musical called Wicked, something tied into that movie I grew up with but hadn’t seen in a very long time. I don’t live anywhere near New York City or any other city for that matter, so the existence of this play was something that I knew about vaguely but nothing more. 

Then about four years ago, I started seeing advertisements for a Broadway touring group coming to a city about two hours from home. Wicked was playing for a week, and curiosity got the better of me. I bought tickets early and secured seats in the front row. I went into it blindly, knowing next to nothing about what I was about to experience, not even the music. What I experienced that evening was magical and changed my perception of musical theater. It also cemented in my mind just why this play is as popular as it is. 

Naturally, I was concerned when I heard that it was being adapted for the screen. How often do musical theater productions make for good feature films? Les Misérables was a bit of a letdown, and Cats is laughably bad but enjoyable in a sort of Mystery Science Theater 3000sort of way. Musical theater adaptations hadn’t fared well at the movies lately. On top of that, Wicked was being broken in half, with only the first half being released before a year-long wait for the finale. This type of thing rarely works and usually feels like a cash grab. Rarely does a story justify this treatment, with perhaps The Lord of the Rings being the best example of this kind of storytelling. So, with bated breath, I entered the theater last November to see how it was handled. The answer to that is complicated, as I am of two minds on the film.

The film tells the story of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), a woman born out of an affair who comes into the world with green skin. As a young adult, she is accompanying her younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), to her first day at Shiz University. But when Elphaba accidentally exposes her ability to wield magic, the head of the school, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), offers Elphaba a spot in the school, too, complete with private lessons from Morrible herself and a chance to show off her skills to the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), himself. Elphaba is assigned a room with Galinda (Ariana Grande), a selfish socialite who resents losing her private suite to the social outcast, Elphaba, and the two instantly loathe each other. 

It doesn’t take long before Elphaba begins to notice that not all is great in Oz. Through one of her professors, a goat named Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), she begins to see a darker side to the world. The talking animals have been taking the blame for much of the problems in the world and have been losing their rights as citizens of Oz. Many have even been losing their ability to speak. During their first lesson, someone graffitied hate speech on his chalkboard, upsetting him greatly. Elphaba seems to be the only one who cares about this and feels empathy for him. 

One day, Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey) arrives at the school. Fiyero seems to live carefree, dancing through life while bouncing from school to school. He starts seeing Galinda but betrays that there is more going for him than meets the eye. Galinda eventually develops a bond of friendship with Elphaba after she redirects a wanna-be suitor, Boq (Ethan Slater), towards Nessarose, making her happy for once. So when Elphaba is invited to the Emerald City, Galinda is invited to come with her. But behind all the glitter and glamour of the city lies a dark secret and, upon finding it out, Elphaba can’t bring herself to join the Wizard anymore.

The uber fans of the musical will be delighted with this film. It takes everything that is in the first half of that play and expands and opens it up. The production value is all on screen and it is simply gorgeous to look at. Cynthia Erivo has proven to be an inspired choice to play Elphaba, too. I don’t know if this is the first time a woman of color has played Elphaba, but every performance I have seen it has always been a white woman. By choosing Erivo for this part, it emphasizes the themes of this story even more. It also allows Ariana Grande to soar as the polar opposite of Elphaba, the privileged white girl who can’t see the problems around her because she is too full of herself. This is a story about a manufactured prejudice against a group of people, something that exists in the real world. The wizard says the best way to unite a people is to give them a real good enemy, and that has proven to be true. We saw that when Hitler united Germany with his crusade against the Jews, and we see it today with immigrants in the United States. Give people somebody to fear and hate, and they will rally behind you. 

Where this film struggles is in the splitting of the story in half. There are things that are set up here that don’t pay off because they are waiting for that second half. This will be less of a problem when we have that other film this November, but for now, it’s incomplete. This will hurt its chances this Oscar season as voters will see this as an unfinished story awaiting its conclusion. On top of that, it’s bloated. In order to split this into two films, everything has been expanded upon, and not all of it is for the better. So many of the musical numbers are interrupted multiple times to include bits of dialogue or action, making the songs lose their natural flow. This is especially felt during the number “Popular,” where the quirky tone keeps getting cut off for some unnecessary sight gag. The film’s climax, “Defying Gravity”, likewise gets interrupted so much that it loses a lot of its power. 

Director Jon M. Chu is no stranger to musical theater adaptations. He previously helmed In the Heights back in 2021 and opened that one up to a bigger canvas without overstuffing it. Unfortunately, when given a longer leash, he has overdone things to a degree that lessens the entire experience. The film is still a wonderful piece of cinema, and the music is still inspiring, but it could have been a much better experience if someone had reined him in a little. It could have still been a two-part story without having to be a nearly three-hour event for each half. This first half is longer than the entire play, and by the time you get to the curtain call, it feels like it. 

I like Wicked very much. However, its flaws become more obvious after going back and rewatching the stage play. I had the same experience when I finally saw Les Misérables on stage after I’d seen the movie. It just doesn’t compare. All the spectacle in the world can’t overcome poor direction. Wicked is not as bad as Les Misérables, the film, but it needed a stronger director who was willing to be more judicious in the editing room. It’s telling that Chu was not nominated for a director Oscar for this. He has a good sense of style but not for pacing and overall flow. It makes me nervous for the second half where the story takes a darker tone and has less memorable music. I’m told there is at least one new musical number written for the second half, too, since it is shorter than the first half. Come this November I will be there in theaters rooting for that film to succeed and to fix the problems I have with this first half.

Academy Award Nominations: 

Best Picture: Marc Platt

Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande

Best Costume Design: Paul Tazewell (won)

Best Film Editing: Myron Kerstein

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth, and Laura Blount

Best Production Design: Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales (won)

Best Original Score: John Powell and Stephen Schwartz

Best Sound: Nancy Nugent Title, John Marquis, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson, and Simon Hayes

Best Visual Effects: Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould, and David Shirk

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Release Date: November 22, 2024

Running Time: 160 minutes

Rated PG

Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum

Directed by: Jon M. Chu