Being a bit of a musical theatre fan I’ve seen Wicked, the show, on a few
good few occasions so I was filled with both excitement and a bit of
trepidation when I sat down to watch Wicked, the film.
The first concern was how director Jon M. Chu could justify, keeping in mind
that this is only part one of two, having his film run for nearly the same
running time, 2 hours 45 minutes, as the actual stage show. Thankfully the
fears were unfounded as Wicked is so wonderfully captivating that it never
outstays its welcome.
If you didn’t know Wicked, and you wouldn’t if you’re only knowledge of
Wicked is from watching the trailer, is a musical that is a loosely based
on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire “Wicked: the Life and Times of the
Wicked Witch of the West which is in turn based on Frank Baum’s 1900 book
“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and its 1939 film adaption starring Judy
Garland as Dorothy.
Wicked begins at the end of The Wizard of Oz with the death of the wicked
witch. We are then taken back to, before Dorothy’s arrival, the Land of Oz
and to Shiz University, run by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), where green
skinned Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) meet before they
are destined to become the Wicked and Good Witches that we come to know in
The Wizard of Oz.
Their time at the collage plays out like Harry Potter meets Mean girls as
we’re introduced to magic potions, talking animals and all sorts of other
weird goings on whilst Glinda bullies Elphaba because she’s different from
everyone else. Thrown into the mix is a handsome Prince (Jonathan Bailey)
who both Witches have a crush on, and a plot to have all the talking
animals locked up
Needless to say the pair finally bond, and after Elphaba is taken under
Madame Morrible’s wing as she sees she just might be something special,
Elphaba and Glinda head to The Emerald City for an audience with the mighty
Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
The music by Stephen Schwartz, who also wrote the lyrics, has some great
show stopping numbers, from The Wizard and I, sung fantastically by Erivo,
to Popular and the number that ends the film, Defying Gravity, it’s musical
theatre at it’s very best.
Part of the charm of Wicked is the two wonderful performances by its
leading ladies. Ariana Grande is terrific but her thunder is just about
stolen by Cynthia Erivo who is mesmerising in her role. Erivo was nominated
for an Oscar for her role in Harriet in 2020 you wouldn’t bet against her
going one better this year and winning. Erivo's performance in Wicked is arguably the best onscreen musical debut since Barbara Streisand's in Funny Girl back in 1968
If Wicked has one flaw it’s the decision to have it in two parts as waiting
a year to see the conclusion is cinematic torture at its best. The best
film of the year, I for one think so and hopefully come Oscar time so will
the Academy.
