Friday Nov. 27, 2024, the movie “Wicked” hit the big screen. The movie was long awaited after its announcement in 2021, with the first trailer being launched during the 2024 Super Bowl.
The Wicked Witch of the West, or Elphaba, was played by Cynthia Erivo, a Broadway and Hollywood actress. The Munchkins are greeted by the words of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, played by Ariana Grande, a musical artist and actor. She retells the Munchkins the story of the Wicked Witch of the West. The Munchkinland sets are spectacularly built by hand and there is no CGI. Every tulip is planted which includes hundreds of thousands. The bright expressive colors grab the attention in the beginning of the film.
The movie runs two hours and forty minutes long but, when filled with music and magic, that time frame seemed drastically shorter. The director, Jon M. Chu, made sure the audience felt like they were in Oz. The yellow brick road was made to have the audience follow it back to the theater times and times again.
After the opening song, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” which showcased Grande’s high and extraordinary vocal range, we find the characters at Shiz University, the school in Oz. It is at Shiz where Elphaba’s powers are first discovered and she sparks the interest of the Dean, Madame Morrible, characterized by Michele Yeoh.
Soon after the beginning of school, Elphaba has an encounter with Prince Fiyero Tigelaar, played by Jonathan Bailey, who has been very edit worthy on social media. His entrance is then public as Glinda begins to swoon for him. Jonathan Bailey puts on a show with his rendition of “Dancing Through Life,” which shows the students of Shiz how to enjoy life and not worry about the big things. He makes everyone including people in the audience, fall in love with him, as I did myself.
After Glinda and Elphaba get off to a rough start being friends, the night at the Ozdust Ballroom changes their perspectives of each other. Elphaba is laughed at and outed, as Glinda realized that she feels bad and guilty for treating Elphaba poorly at first. The relationship between Erivo and Grande is what helped the film succeed as they brought their enthusiasm and emotion to portray the characters.
Elphaba soon finds out that she can meet the Wizard of Oz, played by Jeff Goldblum, since her powers have grown throughout the year. She invited Glinda along and they go to the Emerald City together. After meeting the Wizard and realizing her future, Elphaba retaliates against the Wizard and performs “Defying Gravity,” with Glinda, the most popular song from Wicked, to end the first part of the film.
Erivo performs with her powerful, tear driving voice, and I was a part of the bawling club. Grande has audiences laughing and smiling throughout the whole film, which I could not contain my laughter for most of the film.
“Wicked” is broken up into two parts, like the musical and has an intermission. The intermission however, is one year long with part two coming November of 2025. Too long for a theatre kid. “Wicked” earned over 112 million dollars in the box office for its opening weekend.
Which Wicked Character Are You?
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