Wicked is a dazzling reminder of how good movie musicals can be

It’s become strangely common for studios to downplay the fact that their musicals are movies filled with people singing and dancing. But there was really no way for Universal to hide how much of a theater geek’s fever dream its long-gestating Wicked adaptation was going to be. Like the show and the novel it is based on, the Jon M. Chu-directed feature remixes details from The Wizard of Oz into a surprisingly poignant tale about Oz’s most infamous witch. The film is as gorgeous as its musical numbers are tremendous, and there’s a depth to its story that makes a case for it being split into two parts. But the way Wicked unabashedly plays up the original’s fanciful sense of humor and uses its songs to do all the heavy narrative lifting is what’s going to remind audiences why they love this genre.

While a few of The Wizard of Oz’s classic protagonists make very brief appearances to set the general scene, Wicked is mostly an origin story about Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), the young woman from Munchkinland fated to become The Wicked Witch of the West. To people like Elphaba’s younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) who actually try to get to know her, it’s obvious that she’s a kindhearted person who feels deep empathy for those around her. But even though Oz is a magical land where talking animals and people with extraordinary powers are rare but not unheard of, Elphaba’s green skin makes her a pariah from birth — especially in the eyes of her politician father Frexspar (Andy Nyman).

Because Frex doesn’t speak openly about Elphaba, most of the munchkins don’t even know that she’s his oldest daughter, who has given up all hope of ever seeing the world for herself. But on the day that Nessa is meant to leave home for Shiz University, a sudden manifestation of Elphaba’s innate magic thrusts her into the spotlight and unexpectedly leads to her becoming a student as well — something neither she nor the girls’ father is exactly thrilled about.

The sibling dynamic of the Thropp sisters is an important part of Wicked’s story that plays into the film’s exploration of how “wickedness” and “evil” are labels that are often thrust upon people who are simply different from others. Though Elphaba understands Nessa’s desire for independence, it still hurts to see her sister trying to fit in with students ready to mock Elphaba for being green. But it isn’t until Elphaba is publicly insulted by and made to room with whistle-note enthusiast Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande) that she starts to think that matriculating at Shiz might have been a mistake.

As a stage production, Wicked has always been a straightforward story that’s powered by a heady blend of dazzling spectacle, kitschy comedy, and a handful of showstopping songs. Rather than adding new subplots or going deeper on supporting characters like Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) and Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), the movie sticks close to the original musical’s dramatic beats. If you’ve seen the stage show, you’ll be familiar with the way Elphaba and Galinda’s (she’s not Glinda just yet) relationship evolves and how flirtatious himbo prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) further complicates the girls’ lives. 

In contrast to the movie’s narrative faithfulness to the stage show, you can see it striving for a visual grandiosity that’s more elaborate than what can be achieved with live productions. Locations like Munchkinland and Shiz’s great hall are stunningly detailed testaments to the genius of Nathan Crowley’s production design. To be fair, they always feel like magnificent sets rather than fantastical places that continue to exist beyond the screen’s edge. That isn’t entirely a bad thing, though, because this Wicked’s primary goal is to present Elphaba and Galinda’s story in a way that showcases Erivo’s and Grande’s impressive ability to make these roles theirs.

While it’s clear from the opening musical number how the people of Oz ultimately come to see Elphaba as a villain, the specificity and subtlety Erivo inhabits in every chapter of the witch-to-be’s life make her emotional journey feel like one that isn’t set in stone. It should come as no surprise that Erivo excels at using songs like “The Wizard and I” to make you feel the cautiously joyous optimism that literally lifts her up into the air in the film’s first act. International pop superstardom does not always translate to the strongest movie musical showings. But Grande brings Galinda to life with a dizzying level of airy kookiness that simultaneously feels like an homage to Kristin Chenoweth’s original take on the character and a winking send-up of her own brand of glossy hyperfemininity. 

Though Galinda is Wicked’s second lead vocalist, Grande’s rendition of “Popular” feels poised to become the film’s breakout musical hit, in part because of the way it crystalizes just how comedically acrobatic her performance is. The number is a delightful crash course in all the little eccentricities that make Galinda every bit as odd as people insist Elphaba is. But it also stands out as one of the stronger examples of how the cast’s vocals being recorded live on set makes their onscreen performances feel electric.

The same can’t always be said for Wicked’s ensemble of other Shiz students who traipse and sashay their way through the film more as its singing chorus than a number of distinct personalities. Aside from Fiyero, it never quite feels like the Shiz student body has all that much going on when Elphaba and Galinda aren’t around. That isn’t too much of a knock against the film because if there were more to the Shiz U kids beyond their dancing and extravagant uniforms, Wicked’s two-hour, 40-minute runtime would likely feel like much, much more of a slog. Chu uses that time to cover most of the original musical’s first act and build a steady momentum that makes the film’s arrival at “Defying Gravity” hit with all of the emotional weight the song calls for. 

In the same way that “Popular” sells Grande as Galinda, Erivo’s “Defying Gravity” solidifies her as one of the great Elphabas. It’s the raw power of Erivo’s performance as a singer that makes the movie’s final set piece — a high-flying escape from a swarm of winged monkeys — work on an emotional level in spite of its absurdity and abundance of CGI. It’s exactly the kind of number that seems like a logical place for a musical like this to come to an end, but therein lies some of the concern about Universal splitting Wicked into two films.

Wicked also stars Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Ethan Slater, Courtney-Mae Briggs, and Sharon D. Clarke. The movie hits theaters on November 22nd.