“Glinda, exactly how dead is she?”

Story: Once upon a time, a young girl was born in Munchkinland. She was born with incredible powers, which could become a boon to the wonderful Wizard of Oz. She only thinks about how to make the world a better place, for both people and animals alike. And oh yeah; she’s green.

Genre I’d put it in: Broadway Musical Adaptations
Release Date: 2024
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Based on the Broadway musical of the same name. Which itself is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.

Gotta say: I’ve only ever seen the “real” Wicked musical via slime tutorials. I know, I’m a bad person. I am also very lazy, and cannot get up off it to actually plan heading to NYC. So as my first experience of this musical in a (multiplex) theater? I was blown away. Everything from the performers to the sets, the choreography to the cinematography, it’s all incredible. So yeah, before you read the rest of this? Go buy your tickets now. Go on, chop chop. I’ll wait.

Back? Good. Let’s dig in. Director Jon M. Chu utilizes his maximalist flair for the dramatic beautifully here. Loved the final scene of Crazy Rich Asians? Amazed at the Busby Berkley-esque numbers in In The Heights? Well honey, hold my Playbill, because giving Chu access to CGI for magic and fantasy is a wonder to behold. Cinematographer Alice Brooks – who worked with Chu on Heights – gives this film a glossy, over-saturated feel that’s in keeping with the wonderous world of Oz. Editor Myron Kerstein -another of Chu’s regular cohorts – plays up the right amount of frenetic pacing for this musical, amping up the uncertainty of the political situation in Oz, and the chaotic glee of the students at Shiz.

The production design is incredible, with an attention to detail that’s almost too much. Shiv University’s dorms and classrooms are stuffed to the gills, as any young adult’s room/classic institution would be. Emerald City is chaos made manifest; Panem’s Capitol could never. And holy BLIP, Paul Tazewell’s costumes! Do yourself a favor and check out the shoes the characters wear. I want every single pair, and I’m not ashamed. They do come in a size 40 UK, yes? Cool. Couple all this with Brooks’ ability to pull out the maximum maximalist feel with her cinematography, and Wicked is a worthy successor to the original Wizard of Oz in terms of sheer spectacle.

As for the performances, what can I say about the two leads except they’re perfectly cast. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo not only work well together, but their voices blend as if the two were created just for this. Let’s not forget that Grande had her start in theater, and then made the jump to TV and a recording career. To paraphrase another musical witch? She’s not good… she’s just “nice”. Grande portrays Galinda/Glinda as a syrupy sweet mean girl who’s so high on her own supply she can’t understand how her actions aren’t actually good. She’s seemingly the perfect match for Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, a vapid, self-centered prince who’s also never had anyone think badly of him. (Yes, he’s Bridgerton‘s Viscount Anthony, and yes, Bailey is an Olivier-winning stage performer.) But that connection changes as soon as he meets Erivo’s Elphaba, and can you blame him? Erivo pours her heart and soul in to the role, with her Elphaba being a headstrong yet unsure young woman, who knows what’s right and wrong, and shows Fiyero that there’s more than simply “Dancing Through Life”.

Wicked the book is a much more political story than Baum’s Oz series, and Chu has leaned into that in this adaptation. The idea of fighting against the powers-that-be when those powers are corrupt is one that’s sadly all too relevant right now. This adaptation allows viewers to see how Oz has started to ostracize talking animals, putting them in cages so they lose their ability to speak. Elphaba sees this, and notes the lack of reaction in her classmates; “Are we all going to sit here and stare?” Erivo balances anger and heartbreak expertly, something that surely helped score her her Tony Award for The Color Purple. My only quibble is that the closing number, “Defying Gravity”, is edited to death. There are so many cut-aways from the song that the continuity of the message becomes incoherent. Still, Erivo manages to pull folks back into the act one finale, thanks to her powerful chops and commanding presence.

This adaptation’s only failing is it’s hilariously overblown run time. At just shy of three hours, this part one is ten minutes longer than the entire stage musical. However, this Wicked kept my attention throughout, so this bloat was successfully incorporated. My best guess is that brief moments in the musical were fleshed out by passages from Maguire’s novel. I can’t be mad, though; I got more of Peter Dinklage as the wise, imperiled goat Dr. Dillamond, Glinda and Elphaba’s history professor at Shiz. Give Dinklage even more voice performances please; I could listen to him read the phone book.

As the opening credits of this film announce, this Wicked is just Part 1, with Part 2 coming out this same time next year. 2 will show us the story we’ve come to know in the OG Wizard of Oz, though through the lens of Maguire’s story. And I feel like I had incredible willpower when I actually got up from my seat as the credits rolled during my screening. I want to just hang around and wait ’til the rest of the story drops. If it’s even half as good as this one was, it’s something to look forward to next year. Thank goodness.