Wicked unabashedly caters to people who like musicals and no one else (for the better)

For too long, musical theater fans have suffered from movie adaptations that really try hard not to be musicals. This hasn’t always been the case, but in recent years, marketing has hidden song and dance sequences in what seems like a convoluted effort to get people who don’t like musicals to see a musical (which they will usually end up disliking). Big movie musical ensemble casts so often include that One Guy Who Can’t Actually Sing but Looks Great on a Poster (which I suppose is accurate to the high school theater experience, but I digress). And in general, the set and costume design tends to flatten the creativity that blossoms from the limitations of theater instead of building upon them.

But thank goodness! Even though it sure seemed like the marketing tried to hide the musical-ness of Wicked, it is actually and very thankfully a movie musical adaptation for people who love musicals. At long last!

Director Jon M. Chu blows away all expectations and deftly avoids the movie adaptation pitfalls that could’ve worked against Wicked. The movie celebrates its musical-ness, instead of begrudgingly accepting it. It’s nothing short of wonderful.

[Ed. note: This review contains slight setup spoilers for Wicked.]

Wicked more or less is a straight-up adaptation of the musical’s first act. In the beginning, Glinda (played by Ariana Grande) announces to the citizens of Oz that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. But after someone questions her prior relationship with the Wicked Witch, Glinda confesses that the two of them went to school together, and tells the story of how she and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) crossed paths at Shiz University. Elphaba, with her bright green skin, was an outcast, while Glinda (who went by her given name of Galinda then) was a popular social climber, so they initially clashed. But eventually they formed a close friendship that became tested when Elphaba received an invitation from the almighty Wizard of Oz.

The land of Oz has captivated audiences on screen since Dorothy stepped into a Technicolor wonderland in 1939. Wicked continues this grand tradition, with every inch of the movie carefully crafted. There are big, cool set pieces, like intricate spinning shelves in the university library and Galinda’s endless piles of pastel pink trunks — but there are details tucked into every corner of the movie that really just color this magical world, like a collection of colorful hummingbirds tinkling around a set of bells to summon students for assembly. There’s a level of care to every bit of this world, building on the stage show’s legacy and expanding the same general turn-of-the-century fantasy aesthetic to new visual heights. But it’s not just gorgeous; the set design also really plays into the musical theater feeling. Instead of being just a pretty CG backdrop, the sets are utilized like they would be onstage. If there’s a cool bit of production design, it’ll likely get used in a musical number, as the cast dances and sings and leaps over them.

And sing this cast can — not just the bare minimum, either. All of the actors thoroughly inhabit their roles, from the minor players like Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James as Galinda’s two unflappably loyal besties to more pivotal roles like Jeff Goldblum’s perfectly smarmy wizard and Ethan Slater’s appropriately pathetic simp Boq. But Grande in particular is phenomenal. As it turns out, she can do more than the airy floaty vocals her pop music is known for, and she really pulls off the weight of a Broadway song. She has impeccable comedic timing and brings a perfect amount of edge to ambitious Galinda. With every swish of her hair, every faux innocent bat of her big, long-lashed brown eyes, Grande commands a presence.

It almost teeters on the verge of feeling unbalanced, but to be fair: Act 1 of the musical is more about Glinda than it is about Elphaba. And in her scenes, Erivo holds strong. She manages to capture the vulnerability that Elphaba folds beneath layers and layers of cool aloofness. The two of them are magical together — at a bit of an expense to charming prince Fiyero (Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey), who, while magnetic on his own, simply does not have the same level of chemistry with either woman as they do with each other.

That’s OK, though, because Galinda and Elphaba’s relationship is the crux of the show (and we’re Gelphie truthers here). One of the movie’s most evocative scenes is a silent dance between Galinda and Elphaba, which happens smack-dab in the middle of “Dancing Through Life.” It’s already one of the longest songs in the musical, but lengthening it was absolutely the correct move for this adaptation. It’s a deeply intimate moment in which these two women actually connect for the first time, and Grande and Erivo pull it off without uttering a single word, spoken or sung. This scene exists in the show, but a film adaptation allows for a close-up shot, which augments the emotional power of the scene as the camera pulls in and lingers on their faces.

For the most part, Chu uses the new medium to add meaningful additions to the story. Not all of them land. The movie’s last big scene, in particular, suffers from this strange sort of start-stop integrated with some superfluous big set pieces that undermine the emotional catharsis of the Big Moment. Such is the nature of extending a nearly three-hour musical into two movies, even with a natural intermission. And overall, adding breathing room to songs and scenes worked for the most part. It’ll take more than some extra fluff to bring the movie down.

I am well aware that it’s cliche to call something a love letter, but then again, I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a movie feel so much like a love letter to its source material than Wicked. And as someone who is a big fan of the source material, I felt deeply and thoroughly catered to in a way that I’ve rarely felt when it comes to big blockbuster movies. This is a movie about two powerful women and the life-changing friendship between them, and it’s full of gorgeous ballgowns, spine-chilling musical riffs, elaborate song and dance sequences, and just enough nods to the original. Wicked is a movie musical for people who like musicals — and it’s not trying to appeal to anyone else. That’s what makes it so special. It’s unabashedly a theater kid’s dream, taking everything wonderful about the show and elevating it in a way that still honors what came before, from the opening notes to the last moment of Elphaba soaring off into the western sky.

Wicked opens in theaters on Nov. 22.