Wicked’s lineage is so complicated, Maury Povich is heavy breathing. L. Frank Baum’s book became a movie that inspired a book that became a musical that became a movie. You may be expecting a snide comment about derivative exploitation of “intellectual property,” but your presumption is wrong. Wow, you should really be forced to watch a musical about being overly judgmental with an audience filled of show choir students.
The fact that these stories in different mediums intersect with, build from, and comment on one another is everything I love about art. Oh no, did I catch “earnestness” from this Broadway adaptation? Am I going to walk around talk-singing about what I’m going to do and how I feel about what I’m going to do?
Until yesterday, I was a Wicked virgin, but not a wicked virgin. Style and grammar are important, kids! When the sung phrase “You’re gonna be pop-u-lar” popped up in dubbed videos, I genuinely didn’t know where it was from. I had, until last night, never defied gravity. This is all pretext to explain that I’m not here to judge the accuracy of the adaptation. Couldn’t if I wanted to. The question is, does Wicked work as a movie?
Yes.
And no.
The yes is because director Jon M. Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks nail the single most crucial aspect of movie musicals: It is a movie first and musical second. It shows as much as tells. It does both too much, but we’ll get there…arguably faster than the film does.
With no sense of urgency but lots of spectacle, Wicked tells the story of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the villain of The Wizard of Oz. Well, one of the villains. Toto knows what he did. Peeling the layers of the Wicked Witch’s onion, to appropriately borrow an expression from the equally-green Shrek, we discover that Elphaba had a rough upbringing. Her dad was mean to her. Not a complete justification for torturing tin men, but it’s a start.
Starting after Elphaba met her end via a Dorothy-hurled bucket of water, the bulk of the story is about Galinda (Ariana Grande) becoming her frenemy. And, that’s really it. There’s a second half to the tale, but we aren’t going to get it until Wicked: Part Two, which is absolutely going to cheese off some movie-goers who didn’t know that going in. The world is now living in the intermission of Wicked. It’s a wicked intermission.
Oh there’s a boy (Jonathan Bailey) who is more complicated than he seems. The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) essentially cameos. There’s a subplot about how the animals of Oz could once talk but are now being caged that works as a nebulous metaphor of oppression. We feel bad that Elphaba is mistreated because she’s green and nobody in Munchkinland criticizes anyone for being “too woke.” So that’s nice.
Plot has never been the strength of musicals. The singing. The singing and dancing is usually the strength. And that is the case here too. For the most part… We’re almost at the foreshadowed “no” above, but I have a few more nice things to say.
Erivo is fantastic, and the final 20 minutes are so spectacular, I can’t imagine how it worked as well on a confined stage. There’s a real, frenzied, physical energy to the climax, and the filmmakers rightfully lean into their blockbuster budget. To leave you on that note is to ensure a ticket for the next installment.
Which brings us to the “no.”
This movie is 160 minutes. That is the entire runtime for the Broadway version. They doubled the length for profit, and it shows. Fans may rejoice in the extra length, but we seem to have lost the skill of the condensed adaptation. Film editors are underrecognized storytellers who realize that what you cut out adds as much as what you put in. I think Chu and company could have made a crackerjack one-film version. Instead, this feels bloated. It loses energy between every big number.
And only part of that is Grande’s fault. Her appearances on SNL and other late-nights shows have revealed her to be a talented impressionist. She is so clearly “doing Kristen Chenowith,” that I could feel it and I don’t know the original version. She’s also fake and forceful in a way that Erivo isn’t. Galinda is inauthentic and plastic, but so is Grande’s performance. It feels as calculated as her decision to go Austin Butler and retain the Chenowith-iocity in her speaking voice when out promoting the movie. She doesn’t ruin things, but she certainly doesn’t help.
All that said, Wicked taps into whatever transcendent undercurrent keeps readers and viewers obsessed with Oz. It is objectively magical. The songs are inarguably fun. The whole thing is undeniably endearing. Let’s finish this up with another few hours together next year.
Grade = B+
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Jana Monji at Age of the Geek says “Wicked Part One is a triumph for Erivo and Grande-Butera and the costume and set designers, but for me, suffers from too much light flare to be a complete triumph for the director and cinematographer.”
Rosa Parra at The Latino Slant says “To my surprise, I had an absolute blast with this film. I love the chemistry between Grande and Erivo. Their dynamic is the heartbeat of the film and most definitely what kept me engaged throughout. I would not be surprised if they both received awards recognition for their performances (I’d go as far as to predict Grande will win a few).”
André Hereford at Metro Weekly says “But to those of us who prefer the adult tone and political complexity of Maguire’s novel, or have little affinity for Schwartz’s Disneyfied score, Wicked is an okay musical, and Chu’s visual effects-driven spectacle does little to enhance the experience.”