The moment all musical lovers have been waiting for has arrived. The film adaptation of Broadway’s musical “Wicked” hit theaters on Nov. 22 and fans are ecstatic.
Since being released, “Wicked” has made $455 million along with garnering many positive reviews from audience members. Just like the Broadway show, the film doesn’t alter any major plot points and keeps all story lines relatively the same to the original book by Gregory Maguire. As someone who has watched both the Broadway show and the film adaptation, I had prior knowledge of what was in store for the viewers.
“Wicked” follows the story of Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (The Good Witch of the North) in pre-“Wizard of Oz” times. It walks viewers through their journey of love, loss and a complex friendship that leads them to become an unlikely pair.
When the movie was first announced to hit theaters in Nov., I was already making plans to see it, and I am happy to say that my expectations were met far beyond what I could have thought of.
From the first time the Munchkins and opening number hit the screen, all of the actors embodied their roles, whether big or small. The opening revolves around the Munchkins hearing that the Wicked Witch is dead. Glinda appears from a bubble in the sky to bestow this good news upon them.
Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, is incredible in this part. She makes the audience fall in love with Glinda and continues to make the audience laugh and cry throughout the rest of the film.
After being introduced to Glinda, the audience is transported through the story of Elphaba’s childhood and friendship with Glinda. Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, has received widespread acclaim for her depiction of this role. She performs a beautiful rendition of The Wicked Witch and continues to inspire audience members throughout the whole film.
Later in the film, we meet some more characters, including Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Boq (Ethan Slater), Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage) and Nessarose (Marissa Bode), all of whom are loved. The audience also gets introduced to some characters who may be a more wicked than we would like to admit, including Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and The Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum).
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, in characters portraying enemies to friends, used great amounts of preparation to get ready to put themselves in the shoes of these characters. For musical numbers like “What Is This Feeling?,” where the two girls sing about hating each other, it must have taken a ton of work since Grande and Erivo are friends in real life. Whether friends or not, their hatred for each other was very convincing, and their versions of Glinda and Elphaba were excellently portrayed. The entire movie made audiences want to see even more.
“Wicked” is currently in theaters with no definite date to when it will hit streaming services.
