The ‘Wicked’ musical is an adaptation of the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,’ which in turn is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ and its 1939 film adaptation. The musical has become one of the most popular and highest grossing Broadway plays ever.
For many years, a film adaptation of the beloved play has been in the works. Now, the highly anticipated adaptation finally hit the big screen in the first of two installments of ‘Wicked.’
‘Wicked’ is the untold story of the witches of Oz: Elphaba, a young woman, misunderstood because of her unusual green skin, who has yet to discover her true power; Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart.
The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship.
Following an encounter with the Wizard of Oz, their friendship soon reaches a crossroad as their lives begin to take very different paths.
This film adaptation of the beloved musical has been anticipated by numerous fans everywhere. Now, even though I’m not a huge fan of musicals, I still was curious to see how this film would turn out. And, I was completely blown away by ‘Wicked’!
The film version of ‘WIcked’ is nothing short of fantastic. The entire film is extremely captivating and delivers a story that is really powerful and is one of the must see film events of the fall/winter film season.
Even though the entire cast did an amazing job in the film, the performances from both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will blow you away! Their chemistry together is incredible and Grande even steals the show during a few scenes. Erivo is extremely heart-felt as the misunderstood Elphaba and she gives the character emotion and a profound sense of strength.
The two actresses also have a few moments that can give you a few laughs, especially Grande. I can actually see both of them receiving award nominations and possible wins when the award season starts up.
‘Wicked’ also features musical numbers that are extremely well done and full of energy. The film is visually striking and I really liked how the filmmakers used practical sets for most of the film and even when they used CGI, it still looked fantastic.
This film adaptation does have a few nods and references to the Oz world and does an outstanding job world-building as well. I actually can’t wait to see more of the world of Oz in the second installment of ‘Wicked’ when it’s released next year. The ending of ‘Wicked’ is the perfect way to have the audiences wanting more! The finale is a thrilling, exhilarating way to lead into Part 2 (mark your calendars for November 2025).
Cast: Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba); Ariana Grande (Galinda/Glinda); Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible); Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero); Ethan Slater (Boq); Marissa Bode (Nessarose); Peter Dinklage (Dr. Dillamond); Andy Nyman (Governor Throop); Bowen Yang (Pfannee); Bronwyn James (ShenShen); Jeff Goldblum (Wonderful Wizard of Oz).
Writer/director: Winnie Holzman (writer); Dana Fox (writer) (The Lost City; Cruella); Jon M. Chu (director) (In the Heights; Crazy Rich Asians).
Trivia: Practical sets were built and supplemented with CGI rather than being filmed on green or blue screens. Chu wanted the world of Oz to feel like a real place rather than just CG background. This included planting nine million tulips to serve as part of the landscape for Munchkinland. The musical was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning 3, and is the 4th longest running Broadway show in history, with over 7500 performances, running for over 20 years. Splitting the film adaptation into 2 parts gave the filmmakers the opportunity to dive deeper into the relationships between the characters, and showcase scenes that were either created for the film or pulled directly from the 1995 novel and Oz to bring the story full circle.
Rating: PG for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material (running time 160 minutes)
Practical sets were built and supplemented with CGI rather than being filmed on green or blue screens. Director Jon M. Chu wanted the world of Oz to feel like a real place rather than just a computer-generated background. This included planting 9 million tulips to serve as part of the landscape for Munchkinland.
The name of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, was created by taking the phonetic pronunciation of the original "Wizard of Oz" author L. Frank Baum's initials, L-F-B, which became Elphaba.
During the "Popular" song, Glinda showcases ruby slippers and taps them together three times in homage to the "no place like home" spell from The Wizard of Oz (1939), an extra special sentiment for Elphaba as she feels like she belongs for the first time.
The Wicked Witch of the West is not green in L. Frank Baum's original "Oz" novels. She is depicted as an old hag with three pigtails and an eyepatch. The green skin was originally conceived for The Wizard of Oz (1939), from which author Gregory Maguire chose to derive his own literary work. "Wicked" is one of many different adaptations of the "Oz" world that have incorporated the green skin aspect, such as Once Upon a Time (2011) and Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
During the scene in the Emerald City depicting the Wizard's ability to read the Grimmerie, he can be heard chanting "O-ma-ha." In the original book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," the Wizard is a circus performer from Omaha.
It was announced in April 2022 that this film would be split into two parts. Director Jon M. Chu posted the news on Twitter, explaining, "As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it. So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas. With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys of these beloved characters."
Actress Marissa Bode uses a wheelchair in real life, just as her character of Nessarose is in the movie.
Stephen Daldry was originally set to direct the film, but as production was delayed because of COVID-19, Daldry left the project due to scheduling conflicts, including a lack of available studio space in London, where he had planned to film.
Other directors who were in talks to direct the film before Stephen Daldry was initially selected included J.J. Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy and Rob Marshall.
During the Wiz-O-Mania sequence, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth perform a duet together, and later on they stand alongside Elphaba and Glinda in a "passing the torch" moment.
In 2003, the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a revisionist exploration of the characters and setting of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was adapted as the Broadway musical Wicked. The musical was produced by Universal Pictures' stage division and directed by Joe Mantello, with musical staging by Wayne Cilento. The Broadway production has inspired long-run productions in Chicago, London, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, as well as Germany, Australia and Japan. It was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning three, and is the 4th longest-running Broadway show in history, with over 7,500 performances, running for over 20 years. The original Broadway production starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda.
The direct sequel, Wicked Part Two, is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2025, after previously being scheduled for December 25, 2025, and November 26, 2025.
In November 2024, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman stated they are talking about the possibility of "something" more associated with the series, but that it would not be titled Wicked Part Three or Four.
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