At 2 hours and 40 minutes, there’s a lot of Wicked.
And this is only the first part of the story. Yes, despite the advertisements simply marketing this as “Wicked”, the opening credits inform us that this is the first half of the mammoth Broadway adaptation that expanded the wonderful world of Oz by letting us in on what happened before and after Dorothy dropped a house on a witch’s head and caused a little chaos on her way to the Emerald City.
Jon M. Chu‘s expansive sweeping musical is nearly the same length as the entire Wicked stage play, and that’s with an intermission; for those playing at home, no, this film does not include one – although, you could argue the year-long wait for Part Two is something of an interlude. The director’s flair for musicality (In The Heights), investing melodrama (Crazy Rich Asians), and, even, action spectacular (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) is on full display here, with not one frame wasted in his bid to give us the most in every fashion possible.
Like the musical, which itself was based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, Wicked gives us the origin story of Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande, here credited as Ariana Grande-Butera), who will later be known as Glinda the Good Witch of the North (and yes, there’s a reason to the removal of the “a” in her first name), and Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), who will ultimately become the Wicked Witch of the West. It’s a novel idea, and it wisely doesn’t diminish the existence of The Wizard of Oz in the process; one could even argue that Wicked very much operates as its own being, with the mentality of Victor Fleming’s 1939 musical classic not shared across the stage show and now this film.
Whilst we come into Wicked with a certain notion of finality, given we know the supposed fate of both characters – and if you haven’t seen The Wizard of Oz, what are you even doing? – the movie starting at “the end” gives us even more of an emotional curiosity as to how Glinda and Elphaba became the opposing forces we know them as through literature. “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” is asked, and with that Glinda takes us back to the beginning (a very good place to start) where the two witches grew from misunderstood rivals to the closest of sisters.
Feeling like the long-lost Queen Bee to the Mean Girls‘ plastic motif, Glinda is a spoiled, entitled princess masquerading as a friend to all. When she arrives for her studies at Shiz University – on an impossibly pink water vessel to boot (I’m guessing the production snared whatever was left over from the Barbie movie) – she’s pretty much summed up in the most perfect of dialogue when her intention to join a certain class is foiled; “Something is very wrong. I didn’t get my way.”
Through miscommunication and some intentional trickery from the University’s headmistress, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), Glinda is housed with Elphaba, an outcast – and not initially enrolled – who has only come to these first day celebrations to see off her sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), her paraplegic younger sister, who she is called to overlook by their father, Frexspar (Andy Nyman), the Governor of Munchkinland. Elphaba, whose green skin has made her a stranger in her own home due to her father rejecting her off the back of being born from her mother’s affair, has always encouraged Nessarose’s independence, so she only agrees to stay on campus as to not irk him further, but in doing so she inadvertently reveals her powers – something she hasn’t learned to control yet – which piques Morrible’s curiosity.
There’s an irony to the origins of the Wicked story as Elphaba, the supposedly most wicked of them all, is one of the only truly good people we meet. Though Glinda’s tune is changed considerably over the course of the film, the kindly nature we know the character to possess was never a trait born, and it’s a testament to Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox‘s script – and Grande’s performance – that we stay with her as much as we do. On the mention of Grande, it can’t be stressed enough how truly grand (no wordplay pun intended) she is. The starlet has always had impressive comedic timing (see her work on the Nickelodeon series Victorious and Sam & Cat, or her plethora of Saturday Night Live appearances) and her turn here is a masterclass in theatricality.
Erivo’s turn is much more rooted in emotionality, with Elphaba managing to overcome any of the story’s “victim” temperament. We don’t quite see the wickedness that she’ll supposedly embody, but the story moves enough in a direction for us to understand why she rebels against the very people that showed her an inch of kindness; the back-end of the film where she and Glinda visit the majestic Emerald City to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, charming as always, but perhaps feeling too modern in his delivery) speaks to Erivo’s uncanny ability to project pain and power at once, the two colliding in spectacular fashion with her closing number, the soaring “Defying Gravity.”
Given what we know from the story, Elphaba’s demonization makes sense from the outside perspective, and just why such fantastical characters as the Tin Man, the cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow come into play feel quite subtly peppered throughout, with a subplot involving the animals of the land being rounded up for capture surely laying the groundwork. And despite the ending suggesting Glinda’s support of Elphaba’s rebelling, we see the wedge that could separate them in the form of Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey, firing on all charismatic cylinders), a himbo prince, who “corrupts” the students of Shiz with his care-free attitude, who initially aligns himself with Glinda, before finding his own depth explored through the much more profound connection he shares with Elphaba.
Though we’ll ultimately have to wait and see whether or not the film’s substantial length and two-part split is necessary, as it stands Wicked: Part One is a thoroughly enjoyable, crowd-pleasing (well, from a musical lovers standpoint) extravaganza that finds its universal throughline in the topical narrative that diminishing anyone off the basis of their difference will ultimately only punish the “greater good.” We hear that “The best way to bring folks together is to give them a good enemy”, and, adversary or not, the wickedness at the centre of this charming, bombastic musical proves enough for the masses to agree that this is a partnership worth celebrating.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Wicked: Part One is screening in Australian theatres from November 21st, 2024.
