Wicked has finally made its way to the big screen after decades of dazzling audiences on stage. When the adaptation was initially announced, fans were concerned that it could never live up to their beloved musical. And then behind-the-scenes drama threatened to totally overshadow the film itself. But now it’s finally here! So, it’s it wickedly good, or woefully bad? Let’s take a look at the winding road to Wicked, what parts of the film worked (and which parts didn’t…,) and look ahead to what we can expect from part two!
The Winding Road to Wicked
Wicked the stage musical has become a cultural phenomenon in its own right, becoming a pretty instant fan favorite after it premiered in 2003 (and has gone on to be the second highest grossing Broadway show of all time.) This, on its own, would have made a film adaptation of the property unavoidable, but of course this story has its own long connection to the movies. Wicked, the musical, is based (very loosely) on Gregory Macguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was a more three-dimensional look at the life of the titular Wicked Witch of the West, who became an iconic figure in the public consciousness with her brief, villainous appearance in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz (which was itself based off of Frank L. Baum’s 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.) While the 1939 film has been cemented in most audiences’ minds at the adaptation of the story, as we discussed in our video on that movie’s history, it wasn’t the first time the story was put to screen, and certainly not the last. Because Dorothy’s hero’s journey was so touching and unforgettable, it has been retold countless times in the near-century since it blazed into theaters.
Taking that well known story and using it to explore themes of belonging and finding one’s true self is a long-standing part of its history. One of the most iconic retellings is 1978’s The Wiz (which, like both Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, first appeared on Broadway.) In this adaptation, Dorothy isn’t a pig-tailed little girl from Kansas, but a young schoolteacher from Harlem, played by the legendary Diana Ross.
“I don’t know what’s in you. You’ll have to find that out for yourself. But I do know one thing: you’ll never find it in the safety of this room. I tried that all my life. It doesn’t work. There’s a whole world out there. And you’ll have to begin by letting people see who you really are.” The Wiz
This version took the original story’s themes of being an outcast in a confusing world and applied it more directly to real world issues faced by people ostracized in society, in this case Dorothy’s struggles as a young Black woman.
“Home is a place we all must find, child. It’s not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we’re always home, anywhere.” The Wiz
Wicked the book decided to take a look at the story’s themes of alienation and coming to find confidence in one’s self from a different perspective – from that of the story’s villain, here named Elphaba. The book, as its title suggests, is specifically about her, the girl who would go on to become the Wicked Witch of the West, the motivations behind her choices, and how she was shaped by (and used by) a cruel world. The book is quite political, more interested in Elphaba’s activism and attempts to combat the oppression she sees in the world. Some of this made it into the book’s stage adaptation, but with most of the sharper edges sanded way down. The focus was also shifted to be more about Elphaba and Galinda-turned-Glinda – with Glinda’s role being magnified significantly, and the political themes sidelined in favor of a story about friendship. Interestingly, part of this shift also comes in the framing of the telling of the story – while the book is from Elphaba’s point of view, the musical is from Glinda’s, opening with her coming down to recount the story from her perspective. It’s not really a surprise that the musical is a lot more upbeat and positive when it’s being told from the perspective of the character that’s willing to put her morals aside to align herself with power, and that is indeed a main theme of both the book and the musical – how one’s image and work can be twisted by others to support their own propaganda and aims.
There have been talks about adapting the musical for the screen pretty much since it hit it big on Broadway, with a few different versions being whispered about but never coming to fruition. Then, in 2022, it finally happened: a real announcement about a film adaptation that was actually happening! The earliest teaser images released were… disappointing, to say the least. And then the behind-the-scenes drama revolving around Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s dubious relationship timeline overtook pretty much all discussion of the film for a time. But now it’s finally here for us to judge for ourselves, so… how is it?
The Good
Let’s start with the good things – of which, thankfully, there are many! To no one’s surprise, both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande give wonderful performances. Cynthia of course has her big, beautiful Broadway-ready voice to bring the songs to life, but is also able to use the close-up nature of film to bring a new level of gravitas and depth to the story’s quieter moments. Though the film doesn’t dig into Elphaba’s motivations and many of the darker elements of the world to the degree that the book does, Cynthia is able to bring that depth in through her performance – we can feel that there’s so much more that Elphaba is dealing with, and thinking about, under the surface (which should hopefully be explored more acutely in part two.) Ariana brings her pipes and pop-star sensibilities to her role, and importantly gets to make great use of her comedic chops with Glinda’s goofier side. She and the film really lean into Glinda’s vanity, air-headedness, and willingness to do anything to be “popular!” which could feel a bit much when we’re only seeing half the story, but in fact works well to set up the choices she’ll make in the coming part two. The supporting cast all bring their own charm to the film, particularly Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible and Johnathan Bailey as Fiyero.
While, given the original teaser images and first trailer, many were concerned that there would be a stark lack of color in this version of OZ, thankfully in the end it is filled with vibrant brightness (while also being willing to tread into the darkness, too.) It’s not perfect, of course – there are moments that lean a bit far into CGI uncanny valley, and some times where the vibrancy is pulled back in a way that feels deliberate but out of place (an attempt to tone down some aspects to make others pop more, but that just serves to add a flatness to parts of the film instead of making a real impact.) But while it’s impossible to compete with the iconic technicolor dreamscape of the 1939 film, director Jon M. Chu and the creative team did their best to create something that’s dazzling in its own right. Real, functional sets make the settings feel genuine while also adding to their fantastical nature, instead of feeling like flat and lifeless 2D greenscreen backgrounds. Sometimes it can feel like there’s almost too much going on, but this could have been an attempt to dazzle an audience no longer amazed just by the spectacle of color or sparkle alone.
Because the book and musical are so different in tone, it would have been a tall order to try to combine them both seamlessly for the film adaptation (and since the musical is the version as far as most fans are concerned, following the book over the musical would have likely led to a lot of unhappy campers.) But in the end the team did do a good job of keeping to the important themes of both, while staying true to the positive power of friendship at the heart of the musical. It also does well with the idea of how others who care for you believing in you can help you find your own self-worth, even if you don’t always see eye to eye, because they can see parts of you that no one else can.
While so much of the film is great, of course it’s not without its pitfalls…
Things That Will Be Solved With Part 2!
On stage, plot holes and things of that nature don’t matter so much because any confusion or questions can be laid aside in favor of just enjoying the razzle dazzle and the great music. The film, however, in its attempt to fit back in some of that plot from the book, does start to feel overburdened at times, with so many characters and themes and such to keep up with (which means that none of them, individually, really get explored with the depth they deserve or that would make them truly interesting.) It might at first be surprising that any threads in the film could possibly feel a little thin given that its runtime is bloated out to two hours and 40 minutes for just the first half, which is nearly the same runtime for the entire musical – but in those additions are some attempts to put back in the seeds of some of those deeper themes from the book (like the full breadth of the political subjugation and ostracization of the animals at the hands of the government, which is a much larger and more bleak part of the book), but without fully delving into their darkness so as to not disturb the more generally upbeat nature of the musical. But also some of what is lost in the messaging is just due to the fact that we’re only getting half of the story here – some arcs and ideas feel half-finished because… they literally are. Where this film ends is just the intermission of the stage musical – but instead of spending 15 minutes reading the Playbill, we have to wait a year for the rest of the story. We can see the hints of these darker themes coming to the surface as we reach the end of this installment – part two, covering the show’s second act, is where all of these deeper, more intense themes come home to roost. And so only time will tell just how Chu and the team will handle them – if they’ll really make an effort to dig in and confront some hard truths in the way the book does, or seek to keep things commercial and light in the way of the stage adaptation. Given how closely the themes of ostracization, oppression, having to choose between morals and power, and the cloud of propaganda are to our current moment, one would hope that they do take the opportunity to really explore them, especially given all of the extra run time.
CONCLUSION
Wicked is a fun, faithful adaptation of the first act of the musical, and does justice to that version of the story (and its great songs!) The basic messages of the story are timeless yet also particularly relevant in our current moment, especially the importance of standing up for what’s right, and for those less powerful than you, even if you might get vilified for it. Part two will have a bit of an uphill battle to deal with: the two most iconic songs from the show were already in part one; and given that act 2 is already shorter than act 1, to bulk it out to feature length they’re either going to have to add more from the book (which will make it quite a bit darker than the musical) or just add a bunch of filler (which will likely drag it down.) The book is really a tragedy, and Elphaba’s story is treated as such – so it will be interesting to see how far part two is willing to tread in that direction in a genuine way.
From part one, it’s clear that Chu and the entire team really do love the story and the characters, so we’re sure they’ll do their best to do it all justice in the second installment – which we can’t wait to see!
Let us know – if you’ve already seen the movie, what did you think? And are you a bigger fan of the book, the musical, or did you go in totally blind? And, which way do you think they should go with part two – incorporate more elements from the book, keep it strictly to the musical’s plot, or a combo of both?