The Wonder of "Wicked"

 Wicked Part I

Directed by Jon M. Shu

Written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, with songs by Stephen Schwartz

based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire

Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum

Elphaba and Galinda against the world (or just Oz).

I watched Wicked in the theater. And then I got an opportunity to see it again, just to reconfirm some of my initial thoughts and feelings. 

Admittedly, I have never seen Wicked on the stage. I did read the Gregory Maguire book, which left me confused and despondent. It's a dark and tangled tale. But the original Oz books were anything but straightforward or careful of juvenile feelings. As a child I was consumed by reading all the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, and there are quite a few -- 14 in all. The tales delve much further into the politics and characters of Oz, which includes humans, talking beasts, and sentient creatures such as the Tin Man and Jack Pumpkinhead. There was a map of Oz in every books, so it was easy to become obsessed by this fairytale country and its endless array or characters and internecine struggles. 

Which brings us to Wicked the film musical. So many people love this story as developed for the stage, and the marketing for the film has been nothing short of epic. The story of Wicked is unique as it reveals what led to Elphaba's fateful -- and fatal -- interaction with Dorothy Gale, child interloper from Kansas. who we discovered is an unwittingly pawn of the politically motivated Wizard of Oz.  

I was prepared to be blown away by the film, but I was left sort of ... Meh. Maybe I have reached the grumpy old woman stage where nothing seems as good as the screen musicals I saw in my youth. Where the sheer amount of dazzling detail stuffed into each cinematic frame and the overwhelming number of costumed extras stomping through the backgrounds in overwrought choreography has become too much for me to process. A stage where my brain, already chock a block with decades of music from jazz, rock, R&B, hip-hop, pop, classical, and musical theater, cannot latch on to these new semi-formed self-styled anthems that I'm supposed to love.  Admittedly, I have not been in the best of moods lately and I need to shake that off in order to consider the thing in its proper light. That's why I watched it again. 

OK. 

Wicked is an amazing achievement on many levels. It looks glorious, with the candy colors one would expect of a fantasy locale. Shiz University looks like a place the Elves of director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings would have been at home in. It's a visually dazzling film and the music production is stellar.

Of course, Cynthia Erivo was wonderful. She can't be anything but, she is a gift to the performing world. She really made us feel Elphaba's journey as a perennial outsider struggling to gain control over her powers as a witch, to come to terms with her place in her family, and with acceptance into Ozian society. Her vocals are sheer bliss, and her performances of "The Wizard And I" and "I'm Not The Right Girl" are absolutely transcendent. I enjoyed Ariana Grande's performance as Galinda/Glinda as well, with its comedic echoes of original Glinda Kristin Chenoweth's chirpy narcissism. Erivo and Grande's voices together truly do conjure magic as they melded into seamless harmonies. I have to say that I found the flying monkeys to be just as terrifying in this story as they were to me as a youngster in the original 1939 Judy Garland Wizard of Oz. Those monkeys with their wizened faces and winged shadows filling the skies seemed just as horrible to me now, even more than even the green-faced witch herself. 

In Wicked, there is truly a lot of story to take in, numerous characters to consider, and this only Part I!  We are left wondering what will become of the animals and how Elphaba is able to establish her own castle and army to try to fight what she believes is wrong in her country. Because the story contains more political intrigue than the average kiddie musical, not to mention a raft of emotional issues surrounding identity, friendship, courage, love, disability, skin color bias, and sacrifice, it resonates with so many along the age spectrum. The film does well in unpacking the central theme, which I find fascinating: the fact that villains are not born, they are made. This is an idea that has been explored in nearly every superhero flick where the antagonist/villain experienced some kind of trauma that turned them "bad," but it's only bad from a certain perspective. The interesting thing about Elphaba is that by nature she is not a malicious person; she is forced into a corner where her actions to correct wrongs are misunderstood and intentionally mislabeled, compounded by the fact of her unusual appearance; the way in which the Wizard of Oz and Madame Morrible use Elphaba for their own ends is truly reprehensible. And when she discovers the truth and is no longer willing to participate in their plans, they cast her so thoroughly into the role of a "wicked" witch that she is feared and reviled by all the citizens of Oz. How many outcasts, misfits, and standouts are wrongly judged, ostracized, and even assaulted simply because of their differences? 

In addition, Wicked is a fair examination of the ebb and flow of female friendship, how friends can grow together and then grow apart. There is the ideological struggle between the one who leaves and the one who stays, each for their own legitimate reasons. What is precious about Wicked is that Elphaba and Glinda each wish each other well on their journeys despite the fact that their lives diverge. It's a bit heartbreaking, as is their mutual love of Prince Fiyero for different reasons, but that's life -- even in  a kingdom as magical and fantastic as Oz. 

It's the mix of music, magic, emotion and action that gives Wicked its fuel, even if certain scenes drag the film to almost three hours. It's worth seeing if only for Cynthia and Ariana, whose intense bond is palpable throughout. The whole premise of the story is made more compelling because we already know the outcome -- it's how we get to it that provides the intense compulsion to keep watching until the thrilling denouement. And while it's disappointing that we have to wait until Spring 2025 to see how it all plays out in Wicked Part II, that gives us just enough time to thoroughly digest Part I. 

By all means, go see it. Just so you won't be the only one who hasn't seen it when you sit at your Christmas dinner table.