DAN WEBSTER:
For those of us who have neither read Gregory Maguire’s revisionist take on L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz nor seen the Broadway musical based on Maguire’s work—succinctly and simply titled Wicked—watching John M. Chu’s adaptation of that musical is an interesting exercise.
(The first part of Chu’s film, I mean. The producers have split their adaptation in two—the first subtitled Part 1, and a whopping 2 hours and 40 minutes long. Part 2, meanwhile, won’t be released until next November 21st.)
And, yes, I know using the word “interesting” can mean any number of things. But to be honest, Chu’s film tends to evoke several different reactions from those of us who aren’t among the ardent fans of what composer/lyricist Steven Schwartz first brought to the Broadway stage in 2003.
That was the year that the story of two witches, Elphaba and Galinda, first reached a wider audience. Starring Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda—both of whom show up briefly in Chu’s film—the original production won three Tony Awards (one for Menzel for Best Actress) and seven Drama Desk Awards. Plus, the original cast album won a Grammy.
Chu’s film stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (later called Elphy) and Ariana Grande as Galinda. And when the film opens, Galinda—now Glinda the Good—arrives in Munchkinland to help celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. But in the midst of the fiesta, Glinda is asked a question: Wasn’t she once a friend of the now-deceased wicked witch?
Her answer then throws us back to a time when both Elphy and Galinda are students at Shiz University—an institution of higher learning that novelist Maguire fashioned as a blend of Harvard and Oxford. The difference, of course, is that Shiz U also offers courses in magic and spell-casting, similar to the Hogwarts School of Harry Potter fame.
Elphy’s back story is essential, not just to Maguire’s novel but also the musical and now the movie adaptation as shaped by Winnie Holzman, who wrote the stage production’s book and who shares screenwriter credit with Dana Fox. Nearly all of what we see occurs long before Dorothy, the girl from Kansas, arrives on scene with her three fellow travelers (and her little dog Toto, too).
A product of her mother’s extramarital affair, Elphy is born with a green complexion. And that unfortunate fact earns her the disdain of her father and makes her an object of public scorn. Nevertheless, she is tasked by dad to go with her young sister to Shiz U as the girl’s protector.
For reasons that aren’t made clear (but are sure to be explained in Part 2), Elphy has magical powers. When aroused, she can make objects fly around the way that Stephen King’s Carrie can. And when she arrives at school with sister Nessarose (played by Marissa Bode), her powers are immediately divined by Shiz U’s dean of sorcery, Madame Morrible (played by Michelle Yeoh).
That’s when she is partnered with Grande’s perky Galinda, an at-first Mean Girls-type narcissist who over time develops empathy and becomes Elphy’s BFF. Galinda’s transformation, in fact, is only one of the social issues Wicked addresses, others being the difficulties faced by those born different, a plea for animal rights and the dangers of unbridled, unprincipled power.
In terms of production, the musical numbers, including such tunes as “Popular” (sung by Grande) and “Defying Gravity” (sung by Erivo, Grande and the company), are handled mostly superbly. Erivo and Grande but also Jonathan Bailey (as Prince Fiyero) are especially good. Notable exceptions are Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum (as the Wizard), neither of whom have much of a singing voice.
As for the dance sequences choreographed by Christopher Scott, several of them—especially those featuring the whole cast—feel too busy. Furthermore, the production/set design, while clearly state-of-the-art CGI, is—to be honest—nowhere near as impressive as the moment in the 1939 film when Dorothy first emerges from black-and-white Kansas into the colorful world of Oz.
All that said, confirmed Wicked fans might not see any faults at all. And that’s as it should be. Regardless, they’ll have to wait with the rest of us nearly a year to see what comes next.
For Spokane Public Radio, I’m Dan Webster.
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Movies 101 host Dan Webster is the senior film critic for Spokane Public Radio and a blogger for Spokesman.com.
