9/10
One thing’s for certain: when you leave the movie theater after watching Wicked, you won’t be able to stop singing.
The movie is the screen adaptation of Tony Award-winning musical Wicked, which is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name. As a longtime Wicked fan, I was unsure if Hollywood could do justice to the story. I was pleasantly surprised by how accurately the film captured the heart and magic of the original.
Based in the magical land of Oz, Wicked follows the life of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and her rise to power as the Wicked Witch of the West. Because of her green skin, Elphaba endures relentless bullying, but she also grapples with uncontrollable bursts of magic. These bursts lead her to Shiz University, where Elphaba meets her new roommate, Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande), who later decides to go by just Glinda. The two have comically opposite personalities: Elphaba is shy, witty, and studious, while Glinda is popular, self-centered, and “well, blonde.”
When Elphaba’s teacher, Professor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), is forcibly ousted from Shiz because he’s an animal, Elphaba is left with no choice but to fight for her beliefs, even at the expense of possible connections to the Wizard.
While the two-hour and 40-minute runtime may feel tedious, especially considering the movie is only the first act of the musical, it’s clear that shortening Wicked would’ve detracted from its superb quality. The added details of more context and extra dialogue benefit the pacing and the ability to connect with and understand each character’s motives.
Die-hard fans may note that the movie diverges from the musical on a couple of small but key plotlines. For example, the movie includes the fact that Elphaba was raised primarily by a bear due to her father’s disgust at her unusual green skin. While this deviates from the musical, where Elphaba’s father simply neglected her, the addition effectively explains why Elphaba is particularly concerned with the livelihood of animals.
The other notable difference between the musical and the movie is the character of Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), the love interest of both Glinda and Elphaba. The musical portrayed Fiyero as comically vain and self-centered, but the movie takes a different path. Bailey does an incredible job at portraying a more charismatic, witty, and likable character.
Bailey also creates one of the most captivating scenes of choreography in the movie with his impressive rendition of “Dancing Through Life.” In this number, students dance through the Shiz library, including inside of a spinning bookcase, as Fiyero encourages them to live more on the edge.
Making a surprise appearance, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, Broadway’s original Elphaba and Glinda, sing a verse in “One Short Day.” The cameo includes an especially touching moment when Menzel and Chenoweth join hands with Erivo and Grande, symbolically passing the torch from actor to actor.
From vocal intonations to slight physical tics, Grande does an excellent job emulating the way Chenoweth played Glinda: clueless, caring, but ultimately self-serving. And if anyone had any doubts about Grande’s ability to sing, they sure won’t anymore. She shows her impressive voice by nailing higher notes in songs like “No One Mourns the Wicked” and “Popular.”
There’s no doubt that Erivo is the star of the movie, though. Unlike Grande, Erivo brings more of her own unique interpretation of Elphaba, utilizing her rich, earthy voice and raw emotion to convey her character’s power.
Most impressively, Erivo sang live during the filming of the song “Defying Gravity,” where she is flying in a harness. Her ability to belt one of the most vocally challenging songs in the movie, all while having her diaphragm compressed, is remarkable and is made even more so by her effortless riffs and high notes.
It may seem like Erivo and Grande’s voices would mix like oil and water, given their vastly different styles, but their ability to create chilling harmonies is truly amazing. Their on-screen chemistry is evident as their characters’ loathing turns into mutual adoration.
Not only is the acting exquisite, but the production is too. Without the bounds of a small stage, director Jon M. Chu had almost total creative liberty over set design, resulting in a magical and expansive adaptation of Oz. While most production designers would use CGI or VFX for larger sets, Nathan Crowly opted to build multiple 30-50 foot sets. From the nine million poppies planted for the backdrop of munchkinland to the giant bust of Goldblum’s face in the Wizard’s tower, it is obvious that an immense amount of work went into every single detail of the set design in this movie, and it sure pays off.
After a few recent misfired musical movies, Wicked serves as a reminder that Hollywood is capable of turning musicals into movies successfully. With exceptional dancing and outstanding vocals along with well-developed characters and breathtaking visuals, the Wicked movie has undoubtedly lived up to the high expectations set by fans and critics alike.
