Wicked
Hey everyone, and welcome. Today, we will be talking about the movie Wicked Part 1. Fun Fact, This movie is based on a musical that premiered in 2003, which is based on a book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, that came out in 1992 and is based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This film came out in 2024 and stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and Michelle Yeoh and was directed by Jon Chu. So, without further ado, Let’s get right into it.
Wicked is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz Story from the Wicked Witch of the West perspective, showing how she became known as “wicked”.
Wicked is a movie musical but also a retelling from the supposed villain’s perspective. It has similar vibes to Maleficent, Tick Tick Boom!, or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Wicked is based on the super popular, no pun intended, musical of the same name. I actually first heard the songs in the musical TV show Glee, which is where I also found out who the originators of the lead roles were: Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. It is my favorite musical and the only one I’ve seen multiple times. The story is fascinating because I feel like I have rarely seen iconic villain stories being told from their perspective and shine a light on the fact that they are, in fact, not the bad person in the story, but when I do see these stories, I love it. Wicked makes you question so much, on the surface level the story is very straightforward but when you look deeper you see so many parallels to real life and the experiences of discriminated groups.
Cynthia Erivo takes on the Role of Elphaba, who in lore is also called the Wicked Witch of the West and is iconically green. It’s interesting to see how we see that Elphaba is bullied because of her skin color even into adulthood, and for some reason, people just can’t hide their expressions when they see her. Whenever she meets people, she has a speech ready to go to answer all their questions and has developed thick skin because of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not something that affects her. Even with how the world has turned its back on her, she still speaks up for the underrepresented and tries to make the world a better place. Her story kind of feels like what some black people feel: being judged because of your skin color and learning that there is nothing wrong with you, but there is something wrong with society, so you learn to love yourself and realize others’ perception of you is not the reality. Elphaba wasn’t planning on going to Shiz, but once Madame Morrible sees her potential, she insists that she joins the school so Madame Morribel can teach her sorcery. Cynthia did a great job showing how Elphaba grew tough skin herself but noticed that others didn’t always stand up for themselves and took it upon herself to do it. At the end of this film, she is trying to make a better world for the speaking animals and gets labeled as wicked, which people go with because she looks different and they believe the fraud, also known as the wizard. Elphaba encourages people to think and not just go with the norm because just because it is normal doesn’t mean that it is right. This is something I constantly think about because I always feel like people don’t question things enough and blindly follow. Cynthia was cast great in this role not only because of her acting but also her singing abilities.
Something I’m glad they incorporated in the film, too, is microaggressions, which are negative attitudes based on people’s identity. We see it in the film with the constant questioning of whether Elphaba belongs, the shock and commenting on her appearance and subjecting her to more criticism and judgment than she already has. One that caught my attention was when she arrived at Shiz, and all the craziness died down, and Glinda’s friend Pfannee said, “ I don’t see color.” It resonated with me because I’ve talked to people about race before and have had that line thrown at me, and I think people think it makes them seem like they aren’t racist or that they don’t care about skin color, which is a weird way to say it. Saying something like I don’t see color in real life minimizes the reality of race and racial experiences and dismisses the challenges people of color have had to deal with because of the color of their skin, which is something that is mirrored with Elphaba considering a lot of the hate and bullying is a product of people not liking her skin color even though 1. it’s not her fault, and 2. not something she can’t change. It’s always fascinating to me to see that some people choose to focus on that hate instead of focusing on something else in the world.
Ariana Grande plays Galinda, later Glinda, the good witch who is the complete opposite of Elphaba. When we meet her, she is celebrating with the munchkins now that the wicked witch is dead and while she puts on a facade like she’s happy, we can see it bothers her. She starts off the story explaining how she knew Elphaba and when we meet her in college, she is very superficial because she only cares about looks and doesn’t focus on anything serious happening, and even though she learns a bit from Elphaba, we can still see this in the end. She is your typical mean girl with a clique around her, reinforcing her behavior and not having any ideas of their own. She wants to be a sorcerer and is extremely jealous when Elphaba gets picked over her because she is not used to not getting her way. Her character is annoying but in a funny way, but I love how she sees Elphaba’s selflessness when Elphaba advocates for her to be in the lessons with Madame Morrible and starts to emulate that. While in the end, she starts supporting Elphaba for the wrong reasons, you see her very slowly learning that there is more to life than being pretty and popular. By the end of the film, instead of standing up for what’s right, in the words of Elphaba, she grovels in submission to feed her own ambition. She is the perfect example of performative activism in the sense she only does it to make herself look better instead of helping someone else. She could’ve used her popularity to help Elphabas cause, but she would rather Elphaba fall in line even if what’s going on is bad. Ari did a great job of showing that this character is annoying but funny and an airhead while also showing us once again that she can sing well, and at moments, I could see how she reminded me of Kristen Chenoweth’s version of the character. Another fun fact is that Ariana Grande has a song with MIKA called Popular, which is influenced by the popular song from this movie, a full circle moment of her now being in the role that made that song popular.
Jonathan Bailey plays the bad boy Fiyero, a prince who comes in about halfway and shakes things up at the school. The first thing I noticed when I saw him was how he wasn’t so outwardly mean to Elphaba and instead treated her like another person. He seems more shocked that Elphaba isn’t flustered over his arrival like everyone else is. He is most definitely a playboy and immediately is popular, and Glinda gravitates towards him while Elphaba runs away. I loved his intro and the big number he did in the library, coming in and creating a bit of chaos. After saving the cub with Elphaba, he starts to think, what a concept, and we see him falling for Elphaba because she opened his eyes to a new world where you actually pay attention to the political events going on in the world instead of being privileged and ignoring them. He understands that Elphaba is a better person than Glinda because she does stuff out of the kindness of her heart, not because it will change her social status, and we see him slowly falling for her. When I saw the musical I couldn’t care less about him to be honest but seeing him in the movie did make me care more about his journey and see how his character would continue to grow.
Peter Dinklage plays Doctor Dillamond, who is a goat who speaks and is a history professor. The first time we see him teaching, someone puts on the board that animals should be seen, not heard, which shows the increasing discrimination animals are facing. He sees how animals who can speak are slowly having their voices taken away and are being targeted, blamed for something they had nothing to do with, and erased from history. He is trying to educate his students on this history, which, as someone who loves history, knows that the moment people don’t want you speaking about something or they try their best to prevent learning something its usually to help control the narrative they hope to push. It’s oppression 101: choose a group that’s big enough but not too big to place the blame on. They are attempting to silence the animals, which mirrors groups like the Jews in World War 2, Apartheid in South Africa in the 20th Century, and the Palestinians now, to name a few. This storyline seems like a small part of the story, but we see how much it influences Elphaba to the point where that’s her big wish to the wizard is to help the animals that are being oppressed until she realizes that he is the one who’s leading the charge against them. Doctor Dillamond’s story is sad because he was just trying to educate and make the world a better place, but instead, he was locked up for who he was.
Michelle Yeoh plays Madame Morrible, who is the headmistress at shiz university. I knew she was horrible from the musical, and I wondered if they would hide that until the end of this movie, I do think they do a bit, but she is pretty mean from the get-go to Glinda. It’s interesting to see her jump at the chance to teach Elphaba only to realize that she just wants to use her to help oppress a group that has been blamed for something they had nothing to do with. Michelle does the petty, mean lady very well; it kinda reminded me of her character in Crazy, Rich, Asians also directed by Jon Chu. I do wish we got to see more of her spell-casting abilities, but I’m glad that we see how she manipulated Elphaba, who was always guarded and felt she could trust her.
Jeff Goldboom plays the Wizard, who is the fraud who resides in Emerald City and runs Oz. The people see him as a god, and I thought that in all the adaptions, it is shown he is a con man, and I’m like, I’m glad this musical calls him out for that and makes it known that he is not a good guy. He is nothing but a liar; he’s controlling, and manipulative. He tells people what they want to hear, and in the instance of Elphaba, he makes it seem like he wants to help the animals even though we later find out he’s the cause of the problem that sees them in cages and losing their ability to speak. He is the perfect example of a corrupt politician, he makes these promises he can’t keep and just tells you what you want to hear to achieve his own goals. It’s something you see on screen, and you’re like, wow, this actually happens so often, and you would’ve thought people would’ve learned not to be so trustworthy of people making all these promises. It’s also one of those moments of meeting your idol and being let down. I love how after meeting him, Elphaba realizes not only does he suck as a person, but she doesn’t need him or anybody.
There are some cameos in the movie from people associated with the musical, like the playwright of the Wicked musical, Winnie Holzman, Composer Stephen Schwartz, former Fiyero replacement, Michael McCorry Rose, and former Elphaba Alice Fearn. It’s always so nice to see people who have contributed to the lasting popularity of what is being adapted, in this case, the Wicked musical. Oh, there is one thing I may be forgetting to mention, and that is the cameo from Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who are the two who became the face of the musical due to them being the leads during the time the musical became popular, and you know originating the roles. I’m going to be honest: when I saw them I started to grin and got so excited that they were not only in the film but had a decent-sized cameo where they got to sing as well. Kristin has a moment where she sings kind of fast, which reminds me of popular, and Idina does this belt, which reminds me of her version of defying gravity. One of the things I wish I could’ve seen in my life was them in the roles of Elphaba and Glinda with the OG cast on Broadway, but their soundtrack will have to do. I’m so glad they made an appearance that people who have seen the musical would love.
The Wizard of Oz, as I stated before, is where the basis of this story comes from. In the film, we get a glimpse of Dorothy’s journey, and while we see her, we haven’t gotten to a place where she and the Wicked Witch interact, but we do see how she is still a part of what is going on in this story. If you start putting the pieces together, you will realize that the lion cub that Elphaba saves is going to come back into play one day.
The outfits throughout the movie were great, and I was just amazed by them. There are jokes about Elphabas outfits, and to be honest, they are just black and monotone, but she has a great sense of style. Something important to note is how most of her outfits cover more of her skin, which lets me know that while she puts on this face that she has come to terms with her green skin, it is still a sensitive topic for her. Glindaa’s outfits are very bright, pink, and more revealing, and I think this is done obviously because of Glinda in the OG Wizard of Oz, but also people associate goodness with light colors, which the film kinda debunks when you meet Glinda and see how she is. When we see Fiyero, the Wizard, and Madame Morrible, for example, we see these well-tailored outfits that scream upper class and elegance and make them stand out even more. The students at shiz wear very similar outfits, but the students have their little changes, which I thought was cool. The outfits helped transport me to Oz and realize this is a whole different world.
The sets were impressive for this movie and looked different and cool. I think with the musical, there are limitations, so with the film, they were able to build it out a little more. There were lots of colors and i loved going from where Elphaba was born, to the school, to the Ozdust, and to The Wizard castle and seeing how all these different places had very distinct looks that made them stand out.
The music, oh my god, so good, and each performance stood out, and I just loved them on. Before this movie, I already loved The Wizard and I, Popular, and Defying Gravity, and while I still loved those and the other songs after hearing and seeing Johnathan Bailey’s performance of Dancing Through Life, we can go ahead and add that to the faves list. While all the songs are fantastic, one thing that also fascinates me is how these songs fit into the narrative, and by listening to the lyrics, you’re not confused about why they are included. One that really stands out is in The Wizard and I, Elphaba says she had a vision that there will be a celebration throughout Oz that has all to do with her. Like the way this is worded is so intentional because it’s not to celebrate her, but it will be about her, and when you first hear it, you’re like, is that right and it definitely is and adds to the subtle hints of what’s to come. Such a great soundtrack for such a great movie.
Wicked asks this question: Are people born wicked or have wicked thrust upon them? which is such a fascinating question. The movie, as well as the play, and I’m sure the book, has this political, social, and ethical commentary on good vs. evil. It’s fascinating to me because in the case with Elphaba, people see her skin color and how she dresses in these dark tones, and it startles them, so selling the idea that she is mean or wicked is easy because people are looking for something to hate and she stands out. Also, throughout film history, there are so many times where the person who is a different shade or darker is the villain, which is subtle, but if you have darker people always playing the villain, what do you think people will get from that? Glinda, on the other hand, is white, is popular, has blonde hair, and wears lighter colors and people associate her with good and ignore the fact that she’s actually the mean girl who doesn’t really have values she will stand up for unless it will directly benefit her. The wizard is clearly evil, but people look for a savior, and he stepped in because he is what they thought was the missing puzzle piece, so they don’t question him. The story of Wicked is one where we see the main character fighting fascism, which is when there is a dictatorial leader, the wizard, an autocracy where one person has all the power, forcible suppression of opposition like the animals being silenced and disappearing when they speak up or Elphaba being made an enemy of Oz when she tries to go against the wizard and making her out to be the wicked witch of the west, this love for the military, and the belief of this made up social hierarchy. It’s so fascinating when you do research and you’re like, hmm this book, this film, this musical, has so many things that mirror real life whether you immediately see it or not.
A lot of the people in this movie have a delusional idea of how the world is and have been manipulated by Oz, and they refuse to face the reality that what’s going on is bad. Elphaba shows that it’s not easy to speak out becuase, in some cases like hers, everyone may be against you, and it’s an uphill battle, but you shouldn’t blindly believe what you are told. Glinda is in a place where she is trying to figure out if she wants to be like Elphaba and throw away all she has ever wanted or will be blinded by opportunities that will let her live in this fantasy world where she is a sorcerer. It’s so fascinating to see this unfold and see how Elphaba is very slowly, keyword Very, teaching Glinda to care for others while Glinda is showing how sometimes being popular and knowing how to appeal to people may benefit you when gaining support or followers to help your cause instead of being so aggressive.
My favorite part of the movie was the defying gravity scene. I was so nervous about the scene because it’s my favorite part of the musical and always makes me emotional, and I just didn’t want it to stray too far from the musical also, when they announced they were splitting the film, I was like they have to end with this because there’s no other way. There are snippets of the song throughout the movie if you listen closely. When I heard the beginning of the song, I immediately got excited. The title of the song, Defying Gravity gives you a hint of what it will be about, considering the act of defying gravity is an act of rebellion, and this song is just that but also a song of freedom and self-acceptance. The song is the perfect way to end Act One and really is a buildup of everything in Elphaba’s arc so far, and with the set mixed with the vocals, it just elevated the scene. The song starts with Glinda starting an argument with Elphaba, and even though I had heard the song many times before, for some reason, this time I was really dissecting the lyrics. The two parts that stand out to me are when Glinda says I hope you’re happy how you hurt your cause forever, I hope you think you’re clever, which reminded me of how Elphaba doesn’t know how to control her emotions and can explode on people which doesn’t make people want to help. Then you have Elphaba’s rebuttal where she says I hope you’re proud how you would grovel in submission to feed your own ambition, which reminded me how selfish Glinda was and how she would do anything she could to get what she wanted, even if that included ignoring a group that is being targeted and caged. The difference between this song and all the other times they have snipped at each other is that, at this point, they consider each other friends, so they don’t want to separate from each other even though they start off arguing and as the song goes on we hear the sadness as the realization sets in that they will be going their separate ways. Elphaba realizes that her dream to be with the wizard is something she can’t want, not doesn’t want, anymore, which is intentionally stated to show that it directly interferes with something she is passionate about changing. Throughout the song, Elphaba realizes that all this time she was looking for the wizard’s approval and blindly doing whatever to meet him and realizes that the person she needed to have faith in was herself, not the wizard, and now she is going to pave her own path no matter who tries to stop her from reaching new heights. Glinda tries to make her play it safe, which I always saw as fear because she doesn’t have the power Elphaba does and is not as smart as her either, so she eventually just tries to prep her for her journey, which will definitely bring out the tears as you see this look between them that this is where they will have to go down different paths. Defying Gravity is the perfect way to end the first act and bring out all the emotions because you know they are going their separate ways, elphaba has truly learned to trust herself and love herself as she sees the corruption of the one she once admired, and how as the scene plays Glinda is trying to understand Elphaba and what this means for Glinda’s future. They start off saying I hope you’re happy with snarky remarks, but by the end, they genuinely are saying I hope you’re happy because they are friends, and this may be the last time they see each other. The song is a steady build-up and when the guards break in, they grab Glinda and Elphaba tries to tell them it’s her they want, and she evades them but falls when trying to fly and at that moment, has a flashback of her younger self and I feel like she was reminded of the all the hopes and dreams she had and how strong she is to have overcome the obstacles that she had and this is just one more and she grabs that broom and flies into the clouds and finally feels liberated. When she comes back to where Glinda is, she issues a warning that nobody can ever bring her down, which I loved because it sounded like a threat, but also something I noticed was that her cape was so long, and it just reminded me of the scene in the musical which has the cape looking very long. The overall performance was great from the imagery, the vocals from both, but especially Cynthia, who devoured the last note, which just made me have the biggest smile, and to end it, we see her on her broom jetting off as the film cuts to black saying to be continued.
Wicked is how you adapt a musical into a movie musical. The extended time of part one didn’t phase me, and I thought the time flew past because I was invested. Usually, I like to sit with a movie for a while before I figure out how much I love it, but I will say that this film, after already seeing it twice, is one of the best musical movies I have ever seen. I really can’t wait to part 2 to see the ending of this iconic story.
