It has become strangely common for studies to downplay the fact that their musicals are movies full of people singing and dancing. But there was really no way for Universal to hide how much of a theater fan's fever dream was long in the making. Wicked It was going to be the adaptation. Like the show and the novel on which it is based, the Jon M. Chu-directed film remixes details of The Wizard of Oz in a surprisingly moving story about Oz's most infamous witch. The film is as beautiful as its musical numbers are tremendous, and there is a depth to its story that justifies it. being divided into two parts. but the path Wicked Shamelessly playing up the original's fantastic sense of humor and using its songs to do all the narrative heavy lifting is what will remind audiences why they love this genre.
While some of The Wizard of OzThe classic protagonists make very brief appearances to set the overall scene. Wicked is primarily an origin story about Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), the young girl from Munchkinland destined to become The Wicked Witch of the West. To people like Nessarose (Marissa Bode), Elphaba's younger sister, who really tries to get to know her, it's obvious that she is a kind-hearted person who has deep empathy for those around her. But although Oz is a magical land where talking animals and people with extraordinary powers are rare but not unheard of, Elphaba's green skin makes her an outcast from birth, especially in the eyes of her politician father Frexspar (Andy Nyman). ).
Because Frex does not speak openly about Elphaba, most of the munchkins do not even know that she is his eldest daughter, who has lost all hope of seeing the world for herself. But on the day Nessa must leave home to go to Shiz University, a sudden manifestation of Elphaba's innate magic puts her in the spotlight and unexpectedly leads her to become a student as well, something neither she nor the girls father are exactly excited. .
The Thropp sisters' sibling dynamic is an important part of WickedThe film's story plays with the exploration of how “evil” and “evil” are labels that are often imposed on people who are simply different from others. Although Elphaba understands Nessa's desire for independence, it still hurts her to see her sister trying to fit in with students willing to make fun of Elphaba for being green. But it's not until Elphaba is publicly insulted and forced to share a room with whistle note enthusiast Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande) that she begins to think that enrolling at Shiz might have been a mistake.
As a stage production, Wicked has always been a simple story driven by a heady combination of dazzling spectacle, kitschy comedy and a handful of spectacular songs. Rather than adding new subplots or delving into supporting characters like Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), the film sticks to the dramatic beats of the original musical. If you've seen the show, you'll be familiar with the way Elphaba and Galinda's relationship evolves (she's not Glinda yet) and how flirtatious himbo prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) further complicates the girls' lives.
In contrast to the film's narrative fidelity to theatrical spectacle, it can be seen to strive for a visual grandeur that is more elaborate than can be achieved with live productions.. Locations like Munchkinland and Shiz's great hall are incredibly detailed testaments to Nathan Crowley's production design genius. To be fair, they always seem like gorgeous settings rather than fantastical locations that continue to exist beyond the edge of the screen. However, that is not all bad, because this WickedThe main goal is to present Elphaba and Galinda's story in a way that showcases Erivo and Grande's impressive ability to make these roles their own.
While it becomes clear in the opening musical number how the people of Oz eventually come to see Elphaba as a villain, the specificity and subtlety that Erivo inhabits each chapter of the future witch's life makes her emotional journey feel like one that is not. engraved in stone. It should come as no surprise that Erivo excels at using songs like “The Magician and I” to make you feel the cautiously cheerful optimism that literally lifts her into the air in the film's first act. International pop stardom doesn't always translate into the best movie musical performances. But Grande brings Galinda to life with a dizzying level of eccentricity that simultaneously feels like an homage to Kristin Chenoweth's original version of the character and a parody of her own brand of glossy hyperfemininity.
Although Galinda is WickedThe second main vocalist, Grande's performance of “Popular” feels poised to become the film's big musical hit, in part because of the way it crystallizes how comically acrobatic her performance is. The issue is a delightful crash course in all the little eccentricities that make Galinda as strange as people insist Elphaba is. But it also stands out as one of the strongest examples of how the cast's voices recorded live on set make their on-screen performances feel electric.
The same cannot always be said about WickedThe ensemble of other Shiz students who wander and make their way through the film more like a singing chorus than a series of distinct personalities. Aside from Fiyero, it never seems like Shiz's student body has that many things to do when Elphaba and Galinda aren't around. That's not a big knock against the movie because if the Shiz U kids had more than their extravagant dances and uniforms, WickedThe runtime of two hours and 40 minutes would probably seem much, much more difficult. Chu uses that time to cover most of the first act of the original musical, building a steady momentum that makes the film's arrival at “Defying Gravity” carry all the emotional weight the song requires.
In the same way that “Popular” sells Grande as Galinda, Erivo’s “Defying Gravity” solidifies her as one of he great Elfabas. It's the sheer power of Erivo's performance as a singer that makes the film's final scene, a high-flying escape from a swarm of winged monkeys, work on an emotional level despite its absurdity and abundance of CGI. It's exactly the kind of number that seems like a logical place for a musical like this to come to an end, but therein lies part of the concern about Universal's split. Wicked in two films.
Wicked It also stars Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Ethan Slater, Courtney-Mae Briggs and Sharon D. Clarke. The film hits theaters on November 22.
