Wicked is a 1995 work of fiction that is a prelude to The Wizard of Oz through the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, written by Gregory Maguire, and adapted into a stage musical on June 10, 2003. The movie adaptation of Wicked began filming in December of 2022 and was released in theaters November 22, 2024. With less than 10 days of being in theaters, Wicked made more than $360 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing broadway musical adaptation of all time.
Wicked follows the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, as they cross paths at their school, Shiz, and a friendship begins to bloom. Elphaba is born green, and is discriminated against. She also has mysterious and strong magical powers, such as levitation. There is a subplot in Wicked, that follows Elphaba as she learns that the Animals (uppercased to distinguish speaking “Animals” from non-speaking “animals”) are losing their voices and being forced into cages. Elphaba and Glinda go to meet the Wizard of Oz after the Wizard learns of Elphaba’s power and wants to meet her. After a disagreement, Elphaba flees from the Wizard and Glinda searches for her. The movie then enters the song “Defying Gravity”, the finale of Wicked’s Act 1 and the movie. Elphaba announces that no wizard will ever defeat her, as she rides off on her broomstick into the sunset, ending the movie.
Wicked was worth the wait for fans everywhere, and did not disappoint. Cynthia Erivo, star of Wicked, plays an excellent Elphaba, the watcher is swayed to feel whatever emotion Erivo is displaying on screen because of her powerful voice and facial expressions. When Elphaba is sad, the watcher is sad, when she’s happy, the watcher is happy. Erivos co-star is Ariana Grande-Butera, who plays Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Grande is meticulous at portraying Glinda as a stuck-up, out of touch with the common folk, nice mean-girl. It feels unnatural how well Grande portrays Glinda as truly believing she is being kind to others when she critiques them, and wise when she speaks to her fellow students at Shiz.
Another great thing about Wicked, probably what sold many, is the music. Music composers Stephen Schwartz and John Powell took reference from the original
Wizard of Oz and snuck notes into Wicked’s songs. At the beginning of the movie, when the munchkin children run through the tulip fields, ringing their bells and declaring that the wicked witch is dead, you can hear notes that simulate “Ding Dong the witch is dead!” which is a lyric and beat from the original Wizard of Oz in the song “Munchkinland”. Throughout the movie, and most notably in “Defying Gravity”, you can hear the beat of “The Wizard and I” where Elphaba sings “Unlimited, my future is unlimited!” and what non-musical moviegoers might not have noticed is that in “Defying Gravity” Elphaba does not sing “Unlimited…” between her take off and announcement to Oz in the stage musical, this was added into the movie version.
The best part about the movie for musical and movie-goers perhaps, is the hinting. What many may not know is that some of the main characters from Act 1 will become the characters that we know and love from The Wizard of Oz in Act 2 of Wicked. From how a certain munchkin boy is first seen holding his mallet in a familiar position, to a prince who sings, “Life’s more painless / for the brainless!”, to a little baby lion cub, who Elphaba rescues from her class and returns to the jungle. (Another little nod to the original movie, Elphaba carries the baby lion in a wooden basket, much like her counterpart Miss Gulch carries Toto off in The Wizard of Oz, and you can hear hints of the Wicked Witch of the West’s theme in this scene).
Overall, this movie was a great watch for those who have already seen the stage musical, but also for those who would have first been introduced to these characters when they walked into theaters.