21 years after the stage musical first opened, Stephen Schwartz’ and Winnie Holzman’s “Wicked” has finally hit the big screen. And unlike many motion picture adaptations of musicals, this one’s a winner! The CGI effects eliminate the feeling that we are watching a filmed play (more on the CGI later). Adapted by Holzman and screenwriter Dana Fox, this one seems as though it were written directly for the movies.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you don’t need to have seen the musical to know that “Wicked” aims to tell the story of how L. Frank Baum’s character, The Wicked Witch of the West, became “wicked” in the first place. Originally played with campy excess by Margaret Hamilton in the 1939 motion picture classic “The Wizard of Oz,” Cynthia Erivo’s witch is a very human character with a wide range of emotions. And she has a name now – Elphaba, shunned from birth because of her green skin.
Erivo is known for developing the role of Celie in the Broadway production of “The Color Purple,” and for her big screen portrayal of abolitionist Harriet Tubman in 2019’s “Harriet.” Here, she exhibits a wider range of emotion than in “Harriet,” and her singing voice proves powerful and dazzling. Popstar Ariana Grande plays Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, who (we now learn) has known Elphaba since their college days.
As “Wicked” opens, Munchkinland is celebrating the recent death of the Wicked Witch (Elphaba). Realizing almost no one knew Elphaba as an actual person (merely as an evil witch), Glinda proceeds to tell the Munchkins about her. This setting carries us through the end of the film – which is actually just the first part of the “Wicked” story. The second part will be released a year from now. Fortunately, director Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”) doesn’t pepper the remainder of the film with voice-over narration, allowing us to enjoy the ride as though the action were present tense.
Turns out Elphaba and Glinda meet each other when they room together at Shiz University – sort of a Hogwarts style school for wizardry and witchcraft. Glinda has always wanted to be a witch, but (seemingly) possesses no such powers. Elphaba, on the other hand, harbors incredible supernatural ability, which serves as a constant source of embarrassment – until she lands at Shiz. In fact, she doesn’t even come to Shiz to enroll, but to drop off her younger sister. Upon witnessing her capabilities, Morrible, the Dean of Sorcery, declares Elphaba her pet project for the coming semester. The stern and demanding Morrible is played by Michelle Yeoh from “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
At first, the roomies are an obvious mismatch. Glinda’s primary focus is her popularity; where the dour Elphaba simply tries to avoid the constant ridicule attributed to her skin color. But the two soon become fast friends – each helping the other overcome character flaws – and Glinda does turn out to have a caring heart. Grande is perfectly cast as the ditzy yet warm-hearted Glinda, and Schwartz’ songs provide an opportunity to show off her four-octave range in a way that her throw-away pop songs simply do not.
British actor Jonathan Bailey is strong as the shallow pretty-boy Glinda and Elphaba befriend at school. And veteran character actor Jeff Goldblum is an absolute hoot as the Wizard of Oz – presented here as a man in over his head as he attempts to lead and guide his kingdom.
Elphaba (and to a lesser extent, Glinda) latches onto a cause when she learns her animal professors are being forcefully retired and involuntarily losing their humanity. This might seem like a silly subplot, but it will render its importance during next year’s second installment. Remember the cowardly lion from the 1939 film? “Wicked” purports to explain the origin of his ability to speak.
The musical numbers – by Schwartz and John Powell – are soaring and powerful, yet occasionally whimsical and humorous. I can’t say any of the numbers is as catchy and universal as those from “The Wizard of Oz,” but then we’ve all heard those a hundred times. The musical joy here is simply listening to Erivo and Grande interpret the material.
The performances are top-notch, but the CGI effects are so good they almost overpower whatever intimacy the story contains in its live theatre format. In other words, the world Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks have created is almost too perfect. Fantastic, yes; but it somewhat made me long for the (by today’s standards) cheesy look of the 1939 film. At least that one looked “real” – meaning the world created by the filmmakers could have been assembled backstage at a New York theatre, rather than only existing in virtual reality goggles.
But I’m probably finding fault where there really isn’t any. “Wicked” looks as good or better than any of the recent Disney CGI reboots. And while the 160-minute run-time is a marathon, it moves along at a pretty quick clip, making us anxious for the second installment. I should point out that, unlike Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” “Wicked, Part I” stands alone as a singular achievement – complete with its own story arc. If we didn’t know there were more to the story, it wouldn’t matter. The ending here suffices as its own conclusion. Having said that, I can’t wait for Part II.
