No one mourns the wicked, except for moviegoers at the end of Jon Chu’s new film, Wicked.
Stephen Sondheim wrote Wicked, a prequel to the classic children’s book, The Wizard of Oz, to tell the story of the misunderstood Wicked Witch of the West. It premiered
on Broadway in 2003 and has since traveled to theatres across the United States and the world.
Split into two parts, the first half of the film adaptation came out at the end of November. COVID-19 as well as the SAGA strike, postponed its production and release.
Wicked was released on November 22, and the film has already made over $524 million in the box office. The movie is two hours and forty minutes long, and includes the music and scences from the first act of the original Broadway show.
Focusing on two witches who form an unlikely friendship at school, this movie is filled with emotion and relatable scenes. Elphaba is a witch who is misunderstood and mistreated because of green skin. Glinda is a pink-obsessed witch who is very
popualr. When the two go to meet the Wizard of Oz, their relationship begins to change as their lives become extremely different.
The movie as a whole was incredible. Director Jon Chu insisted on building the majority of the sets, like the Shiz University campus and the Emerald City. The camera pans through a field of flowers in one scene. In reality, 9 million tulips were planted to make the colors come to life. This furthers Chu’s goal not to use too much CGI.
The casting of characters was widely criticized in the media, especially Cynthia Erivo’s
portrayal of Elphaba. In multiple interviews, she has said that the criticism fueled her to understand Elphaba’s misunderstood nature. Erivo brought the character to life with her sass and kindness. The almost EGOT winning actress utilized her powerful vocals to express these feelings. Countless actresses and singers auditioned for the role Kristen Chenoweth made famous. Glinda the Good Witch. Not many expected Ariana Grande, a pop star sensation, to land the role. Like Erivo, Grande dove right in, even dying her hair blonde to not spend any budget on wigs. Her quirkiness and oblivious humor emit a pink aura of every shade. Critics have praised her ability to honor Glinda’s legacy while still making it her own.
On top of Grande and Erivo’s truly emotional performances, all of their singing was done live. No recording studio, no lip-syncing, no voice doubles. They sang every note on camera while dancing to some of the most complex choreography musical films have ever seen.
“I thought it was really good, especially the sets, and I loved that they cast real singers like Ariana Grande. “Defying Gravity” was my favorite song by far,” said freshman Emma Sizemore.
Extraordinary, brilliant, and downright showstopping: all the best words to describe the cinematic sensation that is Wicked in the best way possible.