The anthemic song that closes out Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” is titled “Defying Gravity.” An ode to finding the confidence to trust oneself, the song is a celebration of what it means to defy expectations and, in turn, fly high above those who may wish to bring you down. On stage, that show-stopping number is the moment where Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West, takes ownership of her power and of her own story. Watching the green-skinned witch rise above the stage as she rails against those who doubted her (including her once frenemy-turned-BFF Glinda) is pure Broadway magic. The kind many worried may prove hard to recapture up on the big screen, the place where Frank L. Baum’s character had first become an iconic Hollywood villainess in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.” Thankfully, this movie adaptation more than delivers. Chu’s “Wicked” is a marvel, a bona fide movie musical that’s turned that beloved Broadway hit (still running after more than two decades) into one of 2024’s most thrilling theatrical experiences.
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The musical, which was based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name, has a simple conceit: the story we all know about the Wicked Witch of the West is heavily skewed against her. Novel and musical alike reimagined that cackling figure as an antiheroine whose difference, in terms of both visual and political (she’s green, after all), pit her against many of those living in Oz, including, most famously, that titular Wizard. An origin story that upends what you thought you knew about that “wicked” witch, the film is a warm-hearted look at the unlikely friendship between two young women: reserved and tightly-wound Elphaba (played here with quiet dignity by Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda, her sunny, blond roommate at Shiz University who’s destined to become Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande, delivering a deliciously disarming scene-stealing performance). Yet, at its core, “Wicked” is a powerful story about how injustice can radicalize you and how those in power can easily vilify you if you dare speak your mind against them. (It’s those themes that make it a much timelier film than it would’ve felt just a few weeks back.)
Thankfully, those various threads (some darker and thornier than others) are wrapped around a series of colorful and comedic musical numbers that anchor a worthy successor not just to the 1939 Oz film we all know and love but the just as beloved long-running stage musical. It helps that the film begins with a knockout of an opening number, which places us squarely in familiar territory yet announces the fresh take Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) is bringing to this storied world. We open with a shot of the famed witch’s hat amid a puddle of water. Soon, though, Chu’s camera is floating over the rainbow-colored fields of Munchkinland, where Glinda alights in a pink bubble to deliver the welcome news of the witch’s demise to a throng of high-energy singing and dancing Munchkinlanders. Immediately, Chu’s film announces itself as the big (and big-hearted) spectacle “Wicked” was always meant to become. (Even if, as we all know by now, that required being split into two films. Yes, this is explicitly billed on screen as “Part One.”)
And what a spectacle it is. By the time Grande’s Glinda tells those gathered how she once knew the green-hued figure whose death everyone is celebrating, “Wicked” briskly establishes both Elphaba’s origins (she was born green, much to the dismay of her father) and segues right into the girls’ terse initial encounter (at Shiz University where Elphaba’s magical prowess and prickly demeanor earn her no fans amid her fellow students). The backbone of the musical is the relationship between Elphaba and that wide-eyed, pink-obsessed waif of a girl (“Gah-Linda,” as she reminds her goat professor, who cannot seem to pronounce her name correctly). The steely demeanor of the one and the aloof airiness of the other sets up a tense and playful back and forth once they’re forced to room together. And, perhaps, in the process, find a way to get along.
Their roommate rivalry-turned-friendship grounds the musical’s most affecting (and hilarious) numbers: “What is This Feeling?” reworks their would-be meet-cute into a falling in loathing split screen delight. Soon after, “Popular” finds Galinda trying her best to improve the life of a shy and reserved young woman who’s been taught (by her father, by the world, by her fellow students, even) that she’s not deserving of anything but fear—pity at most. That entire number, in fact, cements Grande as the film’s MVP. The Grammy-nominated singer wows by her ability to turn Galinda’s seeming vapidity into something softer and more earnest than it sounds on the page, though not for that any less hilarious. Her Galinda is airy, not an airhead; buoyant, not a bimbo. Grande makes a mere hair toss feel weighted with as much heft as any line reading. Throughout much of the film, the two butt heads plenty, especially once Madame Morrible (an ever-imperious Michelle Yeoh) takes on Elphaba as her sole wizarding student for the semester, much to Galinda’s chagrin.
While their eventual budding friendship (cemented in a beautifully staged choreographed number where a teary-eyed Elphaba finds solace in Galinda’s welcome embrace) may anchor “Wicked” (part one), it is Elphaba’s continued fight for animal rights in Oz that soon drives the plot forward—out of Shiz University and into the famed Emerald City.
It’s there where Elphaba comes face to face with the famed Wizard himself (played with smarm and charm to spare by Jeff Goldblum), whom she hopes will help her cause. For in this version of Oz, animals like Dr. Dillamond (a CGI goat voiced by Peter Dinklage) are facing vitriol all around, as well as a coordinated campaign to strip them of their rights. Such flagrant moments of intolerance are enough to radicalize Elphaba, who even gets the new “callow and shallow” student (that’d be Jonathan Bailey’s Disney Prince-esque Fiyero, in fitting tight-fitted pants) to rethink his oft-apathetic worldview, which at first makes him an obvious match for Galinda, and later, perhaps, better aligned with the more assertive Elphaba.
Such intricate plotting, which Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox have beefed up and expanded from the musical’s Tony-nominated book, nevertheless feels breezy on screen. Chu’s dynamic musical numbers (Bailey’s “Dancing Through Life” is arguably a standout, marrying the Emmy-nominated actor’s rakish sense of humor to a song all about the bliss found in a willful ignorance that lives up to its toe-tapping title) swiftly move us from beat to beat, balancing humor, romance, and eventually an epic gravity-defying (if slightly CGI muddled) conclusion.
Overall, “Wicked” begs for the kind of hyperbole that’s saddled and likely sunk lesser movie musicals in recent years. Chu’s film is a triumph. An all-around delight. A colorful concoction sure to satiate fans, new and old alike. The film delivers both winking nods to the original stage production and finds novel ways of making its iconic numbers sing on screen, all while making the best use of live singing in recent memory. By the time Erivo hits that rousing high note in “Defying Gravity” (you know the one), you’ll have found yourself transfixed by how high this musical soars. And how gracefully it sticks the landing with a simple title that feels like a welcome promise: “To Be Continued.” [A]
“Wicked” opens in theaters on November 22 via Universal.
