Wicked
If you find yourself looking at this review, you’re here to find out one man’s opinion of the new “Wicked” film musical (Part 1 of 2, in fact; have fun with the pending year-long wait for the rest of the story). If you are a fan of the stage musical, you probably will find some of my words blasphemous, and that’s fair; I’ll share at the top of this review that I have never seen the stage musical, and prior to watching this film, had never listened fully to the soundtrack album. My goal is not to dissuade you from making up your mind for yourself- in fact, I hope you do, because this film hits a spot so needed now that I did not anticipate- but to help you with where I got to the rating I did.
Before it was an iconic Broadway show by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, “Wicked” was a novel by Gregory Maguire. The story goes back before the story in the iconic “The Wizard of Oz,” and shows us how the Wicked Witch of the West got to be, well, wicked. This type of prequel story to explore the backstory of a legendary villain is always dicey territory, but in the end, the screenplay by Holzman and Dana Fox navigates it nimbly, and in ways that will resonate harder due to current events. I’m not fully on board, for reasons I will get into, but overall this is a sumptuous, entertaining film.
Though the film is told through a flashback device initiated by Glinda to Good Witch (Ariana Grande) after the Wicked Witch is destroyed, the main character is the future Wicked Witch, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who is the ill-legitimate offspring of an affair by the Governor of Munchkinland’s wife and a travelling salesman. When she is born, her skin is green, resulting in her father shunning her. Now, she is to accompany her sister, the paraplegic Nessarose (Marissa Bode), to Shiz University in Oz. There, Elphaba runs into Galinda, the popular girl who’s had everything handed to her. They end up in roommates, and when Elphaba inadvertently displays her magical powers, the headmistress, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), takes her on as a pupil, and she becomes roommates with the pampered Galinda.
I do not know why it did not occur to me from the trailers- let alone the concept- but watching the story unfold, I couldn’t help but think of “Carrie,” also about an outsider with extraordinary powers who gets bullied to the point of becoming a villain. I’ll be curious to see, upon rewatching “The Wizard of Oz” in the future, whether I carry this narrative with me to it, and it shifts my perspective. I’m sure how “Part 2” eventually unfolds will matter in that, but seeing the dynamics at play in this story, how do I look at the black-and-white morality of the 1939 classic afterwards? That will be something to consider for the future.
Let us get to the most important part of a musical- the music itself. Upon my first, real experience with Schwartz’s song and musical choices (here aided by original score by John Powell), I’ll admit that the music, a lot of times, bounced off of me. There’s something about a musical bed that tries to balance big orchestral moments with a more contemporary, pop sensibility that just doesn’t really work for me. The same thing happened when I watched the 2004 adaptation of Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.” As I listen to the cast recording in writing this, some of the moments that didn’t land with me more involve Powell’s contributions (a shame, because I typically love his work), but there are songs (like “No One Mourns the Wicked,” “Dear Old Shiz” and “Dancing Through Life”) that I just couldn’t get into. When it came to big solos for Galinda (“Popular”) and Elphaba (“The Wizard and I,” I’m Not That Girl,” and the duet of “Defying Gravity”), I was on board (a credit to both Erivo and Grande, who are sensational and wonderful in the main roles), but with the exception of some of those songs, I cannot see myself revisiting this music as I would other musical albums.
There is an obvious throughline in every major film set in L. Frank Baum’s universe that involves the Wizard essentially being a con artist. In “Wicked,” we also add a layer of racial discrimination, as Elphaba is ostracized for her color, and a comment on segregation in schools and society. Watching this in the wake of another Trump electoral victory, and seeing how the Wizard here (played by Jeff Goldblum) displays very familiar authoritarian tendencies against those who might use their voice to oppose him, this film will likely resonate in ways that director Jon M. Chu (“Into the Heights,” “Crazy Rich Asians”) surely could not have anticipated when he began production. Don’t be surprised if it becomes an unexpected rallying cry moving forward for audiences.
Moving back to the film itself to wrap up, the use of practical sets and its lush costume design makes this film an absolute beauty to watch. As Fiyero, a student who comes in with a lot of swagger, Jonathan Bailey is a delight, while Peter Dinklage shows a lot of warmth as Dr. Dillamond, a goat professor who doesn’t want to lose his voice. Where it missteps visually is when the action relies too much on visual effects (especially during the climax). That being said, “Wicked” didn’t connect with me fully, but it soars in so much of what it sets out to do even something as major a criticism for a musical as not really vibing with the music feels like a minor complaint.
