Wicked Brings Back the Big Screen Spectacle.
Wicked brings back Hollywood spectacle in a bombastic musical.
May 28th, 2003 - the world of Broadway would change forever with the premiere of the Broadway musical Wicked. The show, based loosely off the 1995 novel written by Gregory Maguire, would dare to paint the Wicked Witch from the original Wizard of Oz movie in a sympathetic light. The musical would revolve around the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, being outcasted at school, aspiring to stand alongside the wizard as a sorcerer and developing a friendship with her opposite Glinda, who would eventually become The Good Witch. In previews, Wicked got mixed reception from critics stating it was all spectacle and no substance. However, this would not stop the general public in embracing the musical. Wicked became a phenomenon few musicals have ever done. It is still playing on Broadway to this day and has shaped popular culture in the last twenty years in profound ways. If it wasn’t for Inida Menzel belting Defying Gravity at the end of act one, we probably wouldn’t get her belting the Disney favorite Let It Go ten years later.
I am a fan of the original musical. I think the spectacle of it is something to behold, but I also find the story to be emotionally resonate. I find Elphaba to be a really strong protagonist and the sacrifices she has to make to stand up for her values is something I think is incredibly damning- more timely now than ever. I also find Glinda to be an exceptionally written character as well. She could so easily read as just dense and silly but her arc of discovering her own mortality and creating a personal hubris through her relationship with Elphaba I find to be incredibly poignant. It’s a wonderful show, but this isn’t a review for the Broadway musical, I’m just giving you further context to my relationship to the source material.
I couldn’t hold that much excitement for a film adaption of Wicked. I wondered if it would even be something that would ever get made. The task for any filmmaker would be daunting. To create the scale of the theatrical experience that is Wicked on screen would be next to impossible. It is something that has always be a crutch when it comes to adapting musicals to the big screen. The relationship someone has with watching live theatre is totally different than watching through a movie screen. With live theatre, it’s a much more intimate experience - you can paint with a broader brush and get away with it. What feels bolstering and impactful on stage can feel forced on screen.
The release of the first trailer for the film had me worried. It looked like every other blockbuster film coming out in the day of age. Muted colors, slow motion action set pieces and lore building. I wondered to myself watching the trailer “how long will we live in an era where every big budget blockbuster wants to be the next Marvel movie”? With that being said, I was still hopeful that maybe this could be an enjoyable film where they at least get the music right. Before the film came out, I started to hear massive acclaim for it so I started to get excited for the film and I’m happy to say that it’s really good!
Wicked brings back the big screen spectacle in a huge way. Sadly, so many films in this era use an over abundance of CGI animation to create their world and effects, leaving me as the viewer unimpressed. It’s not that there’s no talent with CGI animation but something about the practicality of a set can make the experience feel so much more real and lived in. While Wicked certainly has a lot of CGI in it, so much of the film is practical as well. The production design in this film is stunning. The sets are so articulately crafted. You can tell they try to create the same wow factor the sets do on stage and they mostly succeed at doing that. Like I mentioned before, the relationship between the scope on screen vs on stage can never be apples to apples, but they go for a different filmic approach here that I admired.
I would have liked there to be more vibrant colors in certain shots but overall, there is a stark beauty they are able to get in the muted hues in the film that most films fail to understand. I also believe when the film does choose to pick a more vibrant color, it really does add emphasis on what us the viewer is supposed to be looking at and this is done effectively throughout. It’s nice to have a film on this scale actually understand the importance on blocking and what is in frame. I feel like director Jon M. Chu approached this not only as a cinematic spectacle but blocked it like a theatrical production. The result is a beautiful mesh of cinema and Broadway. Like I mentioned early, to take on the task of directing Wicked, one of the most successful pieces of media in history would be a daunting task and Chu certainly rises to the occasion.
The film is a recreation of the first act of the musical. Clocking in at a towering two hour and forty minutes, I was concerned there would be a lot of padding added to the film since the original musical only runs at three hours in length and this is only a part one. There isn’t much padding here at all. Chu uses the extra time to establish time, place and character relationships. In a film, you can’t quite stop all the action in a moment for a musical number like you can on stage and Chu understands that and works with it. Fans of the original musical might find some of the splicing of said songs in-between bits of dialogue and action set pieces to be off putting at first but I believe the film justifies just about every decision it makes in that regard.
Chu’s direction is great, but, would be nothing without two leads who carry the film. Cythia Erivo as Elphaba gives a very committed performance. Her voice is incredible, channeling Inida Menzel’s original take nicely but adding her own naturalistic spin to it. I found her character in the film to be more human and identifiable in several aspects. There’s enough time for us to spend with her that we can see catharsis through just her simple facial expressions. This is something that the medium of film can have advantage of over a live production. Ariana Grande as Glinda is the standout of the movie. She might give my single favorite supporting performance of the year. Glinda could have easily come off as grating and annoying if not under the right direction and performer. Ariana Grande has impeccable comedic timing. She understands Glinda, playing off her own persona as a star, which I think helps add humanity to the character. She plays the air headed and ditzy aspects that Kristen Chenoweth did with ease, but I was surprised by how much genuine pathos Grande is able to give Glinda in just simple moments.
A simple beat in the movie that resonated with me was one where Glinda recognized that Prince Fiyero (played wonderfully by Johnathan Bailey) was a deeper thinker than she originally pegged him as - which was just a simple pretty boy she could woo. In a moment, she tells Elphaba, “I realize he’s not perfect, and I still love him”, and in that moment you start to see in real time Glinda shedding her superficialities and becoming more reflective. Simple choices like the longing in the eyes that Grande is able to convey on screen really impressed me. I was blown away by how good she was in this film.
The music is also fantastic. It’s a hard feat to out do the original Broadway cast recording and they don’t- but they do a stellar job with the arrangements here. There’s enough of a different take they do with each song which makes them worth listening to outside the film, unlike some of the more recent live action Disney remake songs that feel like a pale imitation. I do occasionally find the mixing in some musical films to be slightly off, where we loose certain lyrics to an unevenly mixed operatic score but I didn’t find myself having that issue with this film.
The film is a part one, the second part is supposed to release in theatres the same time next year. I’ve seen discourse about this online and if it was necessary or not. I didn’t like the fact it was a part one myself until I saw the film. I believe it justifies being a part one. The way Chu is able to embody this world in the vein of a sprawling epic, making the whole musical would result in a film being five and a half hours long. I’m glad this doesn’t feel rushed and I do believe the pacing of the film would have suffered significantly if the entire story was told in this fashion in two and a half hours. For evidence, just compare David Lynch’s Dune with Denis Villeneuve’s Dune part one and two. Villenueve’s take on Dune is significantly more successful because those films are given time to breathe. Wicked has the same luxury.
However, even with the allowed time - this film can’t help but have some of the trappings of the original musical. This film is very broad and at times, there seems to be a disconnect. Some moments of pure musical bliss feel whimsical where others can’t help but feel a little campy and over the top. I also believe some of the character arcs and revelations also feel a bit rushed in the film. These are also issues the original musical has but ultimately because of the intimate setting it reads better on stage than it does on screen. The film is a bold swing that does provide you a lot of information at once, so I do need to watch the film again to catch potentially missed context. The film also can’t help but feel incomplete because it is a part one. I’m excited to see the sequel next year and since I’ve seen the musical I know how it will conclude. However, as a movie it does feel more incomplete than part one of Dune did or even the most recent Spider-Verse film that is also separating itself in two parts.
My gripes with the film however are few and far between. As far as musical film adaptations go, this is one of the strongest ones in recent memory. Probably since Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. This movie provides the type of whimsy and spectacle we don’t see in a lot of films anymore. The film is a bold sentimental swing - boasting all the technology a film in 2024 can bring you while still feeling timeless. Seems like the type of film Robert Zemeckis’ should have made after Forrest Gump and I mean that as a compliment. Wicked is a triumph and deserves the success and all the money it will make this holiday season. One of the most pleasant surprises of 2024 - and I think we all need one of those after this year.
