“Wicked” Film Review: It’s “Marvelacal”

Adapting a stage musical to film presents unique challenges, as the two mediums differ significantly in scope, pacing, and audience experience. Stage musicals rely heavily on the immediacy of live performance, where actors' energy, audience reactions, and the intimacy of a theater create a dynamic connection. Translating this to film requires reimagining spatial limitations, as cinematic storytelling allows for expansive settings, close-ups, and visual effects, which can enhance or dilute the original material. Maintaining the integrity of the musical numbers, balancing dialogue with song, and ensuring that the narrative flows seamlessly in a non-live format demand careful direction. Furthermore, the heightened emotions and stylized performances of musicals may not always translate well to the realism often expected in film, necessitating thoughtful adaptation to preserve the charm and impact of the original production while appealing to a broader, more diverse audience.

At best, Hollywood has a mixed track record in this area. As the Broadway and Hollywood communities are generally very different due to the inherent nature of the stage and film mediums, Hollywood excels when it pays close homage to the original source material, casts actors who can sing, actor, and dance, respect the original musical scores (and most importantly) and arrangements: Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady and Chicago (thought to be unfilmable) are all great examples of when Tinseltown is at its best. On the other hand, filmed versions of Camelot and Man of La Mancha (especially) bear modest resemblance to their stage productions and are almost unwatchable.

Cue my thoughts on the eagerly awaited film version of Wicked, which opened earlier this week across the United States. Over the past two decades, it’s hard to name a stage musical that has built such a dedicated audience (“Ozians”) over the past two decades, so expectations have been high. In fact, someone very close to me will not take her children to see the film until she can take them to see the stage production at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood in December because of her vehement respect for the stage show.

It should also be pointed out that Wicked may be the most successful prequel ever. The Broadway musical (and its numerous road productions) have been a cash machine since it opened in 2003. I have seen the show 5 times, including the original production with the immaculate Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, as well as a production in Chicago that starred Saturday Night Live alumni Ana Gasteyer at Elphaba, who was shockingly amazing with incredible vocal range.

However, when I heard that the film version ran two hours and forty minutes and covered only half of the performance (essentially the first act), I assumed it would be a slog, but my fears were quickly assuaged.

With Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good Witch and Cynthia Erivo as her lifelong friend Elphaba, later unhappily renamed the Wicked Witch of the West, Wicked Part One is a triumphant return to the Golden Age classic. Its stunning set pieces, intelligent writing, and charming characters, not to mention its lighthearted and perceptive take on female friendship,

Wicked is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel. Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox wrote the script for the stage play (and film), and the dialogue is even more relevant today than when it launched on Broadway. The grandiose fantasy style of “The Wizard of Oz” is accompanied by concerns about minority abuse and distrust of official narratives that match our cultural time. It’s a ringing endorsement of many Americans' fears during these polarized political times.

It's intriguing to contemplate if one of the most reviled villains was actually a misunderstood hero slandered by malicious propagandists. After presiding over an entertaining prologue that begins immediately after The Wizard of Oz, Grande’s Glinda takes us back to her childhood when she was Galinda and Elphaba was a fellow student at Shiz University. In this Hogwarts-like school, they hope to learn sorcery from Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). Galinda, a queen bee in acres of ruffled pink, has the worst roommate, a shy, green-skinned girl who dresses in black and is too embarrassing to befriend. Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) staged Stephen Schwartz's “What Is This Feeling?” in stunning fashion. How can you not love a song that rhymes “loathing” and “clothing”? Stephen Schwartz’s original score remains here, and (thankfully) the original orchestrations (with appropriate amplifications) are also gladly kept. Schwartz’s score is, perhaps, the most instantly hummable batch of show tunes written in the past 30 years. Every song meaningfully advances the show’s plot, a vital element in a Broadway musical. You can’t help but smile when Elphaba rhymes “degree” and “verdigree” when she sings “The Wizard and I.”

Schwartz, who scored hits with Pippin and Godspell during the 1970s, is perhaps the most underappreciated composer in our lifetimes. This film version of Wicked will rightfully canonize him. 

Despite the extended flashback that begins the film (and stage show), the plot and script are so complex, insightful, and entertaining that the movie doesn't ever drag for a moment. Additionally, every frame is gorgeous. The screen is filled with fanciful costumes (by Paul Tazewell) and settings (by Nathan Crowley), and every supporting character is superbly cast. Grande deserves special attention. She excels at playing a narcissistic bubble-headed diva, and her unearned condescension and sweet ignorance keep audiences laughing. Jonathan Bailey shines as Fiyero, the “handsomest” boy in school, who leads the group in another blowout number, “Dancing Through Life,” set in a library (which Galinda bombastically calls "the book place").

Moreover, Cynthia Erivo is magnificent as Elphaba, who is modest and defensive at first while trying to protect her crippled sister (Marissa Bode) but gains confidence as Galinda teaches her social status tactics in the classic comedy song “Popular.” Of course, nobody knows Elphaba was born with magical powers the others want to learn, and she's the one who first notices something is wrong at Shiz U. In other symbolic sequences, talking animals like a sagacious goat (voiced by Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage) teach, but they seem to be losing their power of speech as our political climate takes away their privilege to teach, scarily representative of what happened to the Jews in Germany during the 1930s)

When Elphaba meets the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (slyly played by Jeff Goldblum in another terrific performance), she hopes he can help save the animals. Elphaba is advised to learn to control her powers. “I think I'll try defying gravity,” she says, setting up what is perhaps the most fantastic first-act finale in Broadway history that is glorious in its emotional strength and visual appeal. “Defying Gravity” is, perhaps, the most powerful women empowerment song of all time, and Erivo’s delivery blows off its doors.

This film adaption of Wicked never dilutes the fact the show is the prototypical origin tale. Elphaba's emerald complexion, black helmet, flying monkey connection (which she causes), and levitating broom are all introduced to the audience logically and intelligently. With its love of animals and single-minded determination to make Elphaba the outcast, the movie is heartfelt and witty.

Without reservation, Wicked is the year's most entertaining film and the best live-action Hollywood musical since Chicago. In these sometimes turbulent times when we seem to forget that we all have more in common than divide us, it’s the perfect Thanksgiving gift.

And to my friend in Los Angeles: please take your kids to see the film after you see it live in December. Your children, especially “Sour Patch,” will be mesmerized.

Mark Vena is the CEO and Principal Analyst at SmartTech Research based in Silicon Valley. As a technology industry veteran for over 25 years, Mark covers many consumer tech topics, including PCs, smartphones, smart home, connected health, security, PC and console gaming, and streaming entertainment solutions. Mark has held senior marketing and business leadership positions at Compaq, Dell, Alienware, Synaptics, Sling Media and Neato Robotics. Mark has appeared on CNBC, NBC News, ABC News, Business Today, The Discovery Channel and other media outlets. Mark’s analysis and commentary have appeared on Forbes.com and other well-known business news and research sites. His comments about the consumer tech space have repeatedly appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, TechNewsWorld and other news publications.

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