“Was I really seeking good or just seeking attention?” sings Elphaba Thropp. “Is that what good deeds are when looked at with an ice-cold eye? / If that’s all good deeds are, maybe that’s the reason why / No good deed goes unpunished.”
I sat in my luxury theater recliner, popcorn abandoned, my hands pressed together as if in prayer in front of my lips, practically buzzing as Cynthia Erivo absolutely blew my favorite song from “Wicked” out of the water and roundhouse kicked it into the sun for good measure.
As a diehard “Wicked” fan since middle school, I remember the first time I Googled “when is the “Wicked” movie coming out?” and being devastated because 2025 sounded a bajillion years away. Well, luckily for me and thousands of other “Fellow Ozians” around the world, now it is here.
On November 22, 2024 fans were treated to the first of two movies adapting the record-breaking Broadway hit to the big screen, starring Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
As I mentioned, I am a passionate fan of the Broadway musical so, of course, part of me was worried that the movies would be sub-par if not utter devastations, just as other musical to film depictions have been over the years. Do we even need to bring up “Cats” or can I spare myself the memory (get it)?
However, as soon as the first chord of Stephen Schwartz and John Powell’s masterpiece of a score rang out in the theater, I knew I was going to be more than pleasantly surprised.
When I describe what I liked about the movie, it’s hard not to simply say “everything.” The cinematography, the costuming, the casting, the score, the vocals. Of course, all were amplified by my extensive adoration for the original source material.
Everyone in this film was perfectly casted despite doubts from the “Wicked” fandom. Erivo managed to play a lowly, unconfident schoolgirl Elphaba in the first half of the film and completely switch to capturing the essence of a new, self-assured and developed Elphaba by the end of “Defying Gravity.” Ariana Grande might not have been in everyone’s fan casting before production began, but the way she stepped into the role of Glinda and truly made it hers while paying homage to those who have owned the character before her was immaculate in my eyes. Of course, I couldn’t say enough about the vocals — they are both absolute vocal powerhouses.
What the “Wicked” movies did differently from past underwhelming musical movie adaptations was simply being a series rather than a standalone film. Most were confused as to why they would make the choice to split the story into two films spread out a year apart, but to me it makes perfect sense.
What past flops have gotten wrong is the removal of crucial and iconic content for the sake of conciseness.
The 2021 adaptation of “Dear Evan Hansen” cut some of the most recognizable songs of the whole production to thunderous negative feedback. It pains me to think about which of my favorite “Wicked” songs would have been on the chopping block if they had tried to cram an almost three-hour-long show into an hour-and-a-half-long, boiled-down production.
Director Jon M. Chu did absolutely right by striving to include everything from the original source material and even add more to the world of Oz.
In “Wicked: For Good,” the second installment released on November 21, 2026, Glinda gets her own moment of self-reflection as she thinks back to her childhood — as well as a introspective new song to match. “The Girl in the Bubble” shows character growth for Glinda that we don’t get to see in the stage play. We see Glinda’s metophorical “bubble” of a life popping for the first time as she looks in the mirror and realizes her friend means more to her than her falsified life as Oz’s “encouraging public figure.”
We also get to see more of Elphaba’s efforts to save the animals who are being oppressed throughout all Oz. The director’s choice to include Glinda in the “Wonderful” scene with the Wizard has us wondering for a moment if Elphaba really will decide to set her noble efforts aside and join them. We also get a chance to see what would have been Fiyero and Glinda’s wedding before it gets “tragically” trampled by a stampede of recently freed wildlife.
Fans got all the aspects of the untold stories of the witches of Oz along with some more character and world building all done with very apparent love and care.
Some might wonder if what we got in the end is better than what we could have had if “Wicked” executives had decided just to release a professionally filmed stage production instead. I mean, “Hamilton” did it? Was that not widely successful?
Personally, I believe that we would have missed out on the way the new movies brought new attention to the story of “Wicked.” Whereas a pro-shot would have been great for existing fans, the movies made the show a worldwide phenomenon as old and new fans alike held their breath in between film releases.
All in all, no the movie is not a direct, shot for shot remake of the stage play, but it is no less impactful. The “Wicked” movie era will continue to be remembered as worldwide pop culture phenomenon while hype for a pro-shot of the Broadway show may have only lasted a few months. The choices that deviated from the original script were well placed, in good taste and had the fans’ best interests in mind.
I won’t lie to you, tears were shed hearing Erivo and Grande sing “For Good” for the first time. As the song goes, “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? Because I knew you — I have been changed for good.”
I think that perfectly describes how the lasting impact of a Broadway musical “Wizard of Oz” prequel has shaped a fan base into the one that gets to enjoy a brand new and expanded adaptation today. The “Wicked” movie series is simply the stage play but “Swankified,” to put it the Ozian way, and we “couldn’t be happier.”
