Wicked Review: It’s Wicked Good

Leo Josse ’28 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer 

When the credits rolled on Jon M Chu’s adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, I sat in the theater in utter disbelief. Suddenly, I started shaking, my vision got blurry, and my legs and arms went completely numb. I was quite literally in shock. I’ve never felt this way after the end of a movie. The friends I went with left to use the bathroom, but I couldn’t leave my seat until the final credit rolled on the final name. I couldn’t make myself get up. 

So yeah. I liked the movie. 

To give a bit of background on my experience with Wicked to better understand my visceral reaction to this movie, Wicked was the first Broadway show I ever saw live, on December 30th, 2017. It sparked my intrigue in the performance world—so when I entered middle school and the audition list went up for our school musical, I signed up. Then I did it again the next year. This kind of turned into a pattern and soon enough, I was studying theater at Edward R Murrow High School. Wicked is not only one of my favorite Broadway musicals and the first one I saw, but it was one of the experiences that shaped the person I am today. So when this movie was announced, I felt very protective of the material. It was going to have a difficult time winning me over. It needed to be good. Really good. 

When Jon M Chu was announced as the director of this adaptation, it gave me hope. I LOVED his 2021 adaptation of In the Heights. I would have likely been satisfied if he had gone even half as hard on Wicked as he had done there. But clearly, he and his team weren’t aiming for simple satisfaction. They were aiming for the stars. 

And the stars they reached. Wicked is a triumph of art on the big screen, and a demonstration of what the medium of film can do for a story. In every way, it transcends the screen and becomes something truly immersive. The sense of this world is truly captured stunningly which is clearly to do with the incredible love and care the team had when making this production. I would like to highlight a few things in this review, but it’s clear that everyone involved in making this movie is equally responsible for the masterpiece that was delivered to the big screen.

LIGHT PLOT SPOILERS AND IMAGES AHEAD

I would like to highlight the performances in this movie first. Specifically the performances of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande—credited here as Ariana Grande-Butera, her full name—because they truly become the characters they are inhibiting. Erivo plays the character very reserved at the beginning of the film. She’s a woman who has been forced to bury her emotions to fit into a world she already is completely ostracized from. But as she goes through the story, her feelings grow until they explode in the climatic “Defying Gravity.” I love how the story visualizes this theme by connecting her emotions to her power, and Erivo’s performance allows that to really shine through. On the other hand, Grande plays the character very bubbly at first, but as the film progresses she grounds the character without losing the energy that makes her so engaging to watch at the start. These performances are Oscar-worthy in my opinion, and whether either gets nominated, awarded, or neither, both Erivo and Grande should feel a sense of pride in how they seamlessly translated these beloved characters to a new generation and a new medium in film. 

The rest of the cast is also fantastic. Jonathan Bailey captures the heart of everyone watching with his effortless charm in his portrayal of Fiyero. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are also great, and while their singing isn’t quite up to par with Erivo, Grande, and Bailey, their acting makes up for it. Goldblum is perfectly cast as the Wizard of Oz, with his usual shtick of being unpredictably funny working incredibly well with this intentionally unpredictable character. Yeoh brings a commanding presence to the role of Madame Morrible which allows the audience to know that she is not to be messed with. While having smaller roles, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, and Bowen Yang make the most of their screen time. Yang to note, would go back and forth between the set of Wicked—being filmed in London, to the set of Saturday Night Live—taking place in New York City, back and forth each week for many weeks. Talk about commitment!!

It is also crucial to mention the unbelievable production design this movie has. The sense of scale and world that the Wicked team communicates to the audience is powerful. You FEEL the world. Whether that’s at Shiz University or in the Emerald City, the physical sets create a sense of world that makes the movie that much more immersive. Universal better make these places into theme parks like they did with Harry Potter. I will be first in line. 

The music remains the same as the Broadway version, but that doesn’t make it any less fantastic. Hearing classics like “Defying Gravity,” “Popular,” “Dancing Through Life,” and all the rest of the wonderful Act 1 songs on the big screen either brought a beaming smile to my face or sent chills down my spine. The way they are all translated to the screen with Chu’s confident direction paired with Christopher Scott’s—Chu’s former collaborator from In the Heights (2021)—stunning choreography makes the songs feel fresh but not lacking the original flavor, validating the screen translation from the stage. 

The story is just as powerful as ever. The political nature of Wicked couldn’t be more relevant, especially after the shocking 2024 election. Wicked has always been political, and the movie only leans more into the intrigue and complex nature of these complex politics. “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” This is the driving question of Wicked, and it runs through the whole narrative, from the scenes in Shiz to the scenes in Oz. One of my favorite moments in the movie—that’s not one of the show-stopping musical numbers—is the scene in the Ozdust Ballroom where Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) dances alone, as she always had been, with everyone laughing at her because of who she is and what she’s wearing. But then Galinda (Ariana Grande)—this takes place before she changes her name to Glinda—joins in with her. She joins, not to laugh at or make fun of her, but to understand her. So they share a dance, and for the first time, Elphaba is accepted. This moment stuck with me after I walked out of the theater because not only do I know where the story leads, but I also understand that feeling of finally feeling like someone understands you. It also answers Wicked’s central question by showing that wickedness is all perspective. This answer can be difficult to stomach when you apply it to people you find wicked in the real world, but the answer nonetheless. These leaders can only rise to power because they have supporters, whether you like it or not.

It is important to note that Wicked (2024) is actually a Part One—and is titled as such in the movie—so we still have half the story to tell in next year’s Wicked Part Two, which follows Act 2 of the Broadway musical. But this movie still tells a concise story with a beginning, middle, and end, and while it leaves off on a cliffhanger, it doesn’t feel like we were cheated out of half the story. Having seen the original musical, I know what is to come in Part Two, and while I won’t spoil the many developments, I like to think of Act One as the action, and Act Two as the consequence.

Wicked is one of the rare adaptations that not only delivers on the promise of the source material but exceeds it in multiple ways. To be a Wicked fan in this day and age is really exciting. I’ve already seen the movie twice myself, and I’m eager to see it again and again. Universal, you can count me SEATED for Part Two when it comes out in November of next year. Thank you to everyone who made this movie so magical. You have defied gravity.