Wicked is an entertaining musical journey of Cynthia Errivo’s scorned Elphaba and her rivalry and friendship with Ariana Grande’s perky Galinda! The movie is based on the Tony Award winning 2003 musical which had music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. He is known for the musical Godspell (1971) and also lyrcist for animated films like Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) which was made into a musical in 1999. I have not seen the musical yet, but have my ticket for next month.
In turn, the musical was based on the book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) by Gregory Maguire. It was the first novel of The Wicked Years books. The film is directed by Jon M. Chu who also directed In the Heights (2021) which I consider one of the best movie musicals. It is written by Winnie Holzman, she wrote the book of the musical, she also wrote episodes of the music series, Roadies. Her co-writer, Dana Fox, wrote Cruella (2021). The movie runs two hours and forty minutes which is longer than the entire musical.
It opens with the circular window, the pool of the dissolved Wicked Witch, and her hat. A flying monkey shatters the window and flies away. This moves to Munchkin Village, the Munchkins are not short. The Munchkins realize that the Wicked Witch is dead and start to celebrate. Landing in her pink bubble and chair is Glinda played by Ariana Grande-Butera. Grande is funny at her desperate for recognition woman. Grande is of course known as a pop icon, she appeared on Hairspray Live! (2016), and known for the Nickelodeon sitcom, Victorious. Glinda notices the posters warning about the Wicked Witch and confirms her death.
Everyone sings, "No One Mourns the Wicked." Glinda says, “Let me tell you the whole story.” On a ruined stone bridge, a rider heads to waterfalls, great design. We get the overture and walking to the Emerald City are four familar figures; a girl, her dog, and friends! Glinda sings “No One Mourns the Wicked” where we get the governor of Flexspar Thropp (Andy Nyman) and his wife, Melena Thropp (Courtney-Mae Briggs). Nyman was Sir James Hobbs-Coddington in Jungle Cruise (2021). Mae-Briggs voiced Jade in Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, an animated series in 2023.
There is a green elixir that is part of an affair with Melena and a salesman. She has a baby and the knives and tools fly up to the roof. The baby has green skin and Flexspar says. “Take it away!” The result of the elixir? Elphaba is taken into the care of the bear nanny, Dulcibear (voiced by Sharon D. Clarke), sweet bear? She gets a baby sister, Nessarose, and later told by Flexspar to watch over her. Young Elphaba (Karis Musongole) is outside with Young Nessarose (Cesily Collette Taylor), she is in her wheelchair.
Munchkinland kids start taunting Elphaba and this makes Nessarose cry. Elphaba, frustrated, balls her fists and rocks begin shaking and then fly towards the kids. Flexspar sees Nessarose crying and blames Elphaba. Munchkinland needs a better parenting program starting with the governor. What goes around comes around, zero sympathy for the Munchkins. Glinda has the pop-up book, Story of Oz, and then we get an effigy of the Wicked Witch to burn. Glinda is asked by a Munchkin girl if it was true that she was friends with the witch. She says, "Our paths did cross in school."
There is multi-colored goldfish that swim underneath sail boats before we get the title, the Part I shown, but not in any adverts. The boats pass underneath the school sign, Galinda (Grande) is awed by it, and the students arrive at the landing bay of Shiz University. A bit like Harry Potter and Hogwarts. Shiz University is in the city of Shiz in Gillikin, the northern part of Oz. Galinda says goodbye to her parents and wears a pink suit while the other students were dark blue school uniforms. A chorus greets the new students with “Dear Old Shiz" and Galinda joins them.
Next to her is fellow students, Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James). Yang is known for SNL and appeared as himself in the comedy, Good Burger 2 (2023). James has played Fanny Lambert in the drama, Harlots. Another student introduces himself to Galinda as Boq (Ethan Slater) from Munchkinland. The lead role was played by Slater in The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! Boq's last name may hint at his fate. He has a crush on Galinda, but is just clueless that his interest is not returned. This leads to the entrance of Elphaba (Erivo) and the students part as she walks up. Erivo is an accomplished singer, winning the Tony and Grammy for the Broadway revival of The Color Purple, and she played Harriet Tubman in Harriet (2019).
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