Based upon the novel Wicked by Gregory Maguire
and the stage play/musical "Wicked" by Winnie Holzman & Stephen Schwartz
Screenplay Written by Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Jon M. Chu
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED PG 13
As with so many franchise variations these days starring all manner of sequels, prequels, reboots and the like, I am equally tiring of the sub genre of taking a character known solely to us as a villain and then receiving a new film that serves as reverse engineered backstory, explaining the reasons why the villainy was created.
My feeling are not cemented in any sort of hard and fast rule. For the full arc of Darth Vader in George Lucas' multi-part "Star Wars" saga (1977-1983, 1999-2005), the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker was central to the story of the Skywalker family which played against the backdrop of a democracy falling into fascism and then, by turns, equally finding redemption and revival. His story was purposeful and never ever felt like a "filmed deal," as how the late, great Roger Ebert brutally defined sequels. Yet, for something like Craig Gillespie's "Cruella" (2021), for instance, what reason other than commerce, necessitated the explanator backstory of a character whose last name is literally "Devil"?
In a way, just let sleeping mad dogs lie, and allow villains to be villains because honestly, some people really are just villains, with no redeeming moral qualities whatsoever. Sometimes, evil just IS and there are no explanations...even for one of the greatest movie villains of all time.
But then again...
Now, we arrive with Jon M. Chu's "Wicked," the first half of his planned two part film series (the second half arrives in late 2025) based upon the blockbuster Broadway musical, the source material of author Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel and to that end, the entire The Wonderful World of Oz (1900-1920) book series by L. Frank Baum and even then, serves as a sequel/prequel to Victor Fleming's iconic "The Wizard Of Oz" (1939). Phew!!
For the uninitiated, "Wicked Part One" begins to unveil the now tragic origin story of the green skinned Elphaba Thropp, who will become The Wicked Witch of the West and her tenuous best friendship with Galinda Upland, who will herself become Glinda the Good Witch and Chu unveils his cinematic vision by taking a massive swing towards the classic technicolor MGM styled musicals of the past and which clearly work as much as inspiration as the all of the source material incarnations. From a musical standpoint, Chu just about nearly makes it but from a storytelling standpoint, I was often emotionally overtaken as the fantastical metaphors mirroring real world historical and present day social/racial/political tribulations and traumas rang powerfully true...and frankly, as our nation is marching rapidly towards authoritarian rule, devastatingly impactful.
Jon M. Chu's "Wicked Part One" opens with the death of The Wicked Witch of the West at the hands of Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion as represented by their triumphant march back to Emerald City as the Witch's black pointed hat rests into a pool of water, the spot at which she melted away. As the citizens of Munchkinland celebrate, Glinda the Good Witch (an excellent Ariana Grande) appears and is questioned if whether she and the Wicked Witch were once friends, at which point we return to the beginning...
Elphaba Thropp (a stunning Cynthia Erivo), daughter of Governor Thropp (Andy Nyman), older sister to paraplegic sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) yet produced from an illicit affair and inexplicably born with green skin and telekinetic powers leads to a life of rejection, ridicule and fear from society (and her Father), save from the speaking animal population who raise and nurture her with love, guidance and empathy.
Upon Nessarose's arrival for college at Shiz University, at which Elphaba initially arrives solely as escort per her Father's demands, we formerly meet Galinda (not yet "Glinda") Upland, the blinding light of popularity and desired upward social mobility. Dressed to the nines, armed with beauty and flair and flanked by her ever present "friends" Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and Shenshen (Bronwyn James), Galinda rules the Shiz roost. Or so she thinks...
While Shiz University Dean Of Sorcery Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) finds Galinda unctuous, she takes a deep interest in Elphaba after an accidental reveal of her powers. Promising enrollment and private tutorship--much to Galinda's chagrin, amplified further when she and Elphaba become reluctant roommates--Elphaba enrolls in S.U. and garners hopes that one day she will be able to meet The Wizard Of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and maybe he will grant her wish to change her skin color from green to one accepted by society.
Galinda and Elphaba's relationship takes a dramatic turn and grows closer as social/romantic tensions between themselves and classmates--including Boq Woodsman (Ethan Slater), a cheerful Munchkin who harbors an unrequited crush upon Galinda but begins a relationship with Nessarose and late school arrival, the rebellious Prince Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), who himself dances between beginning a relationship with Galinda while clearly harboring a real connection with Elphaba--come to a head at the Ozdust Ballroom.
Meanwhile, throughout Oz, dark clouds are swirling as the animal population, including S.U. faculty, are facing increased discrimination and the loss of their civil rights culminating in imprisonment and the loss of their abilities to speak. Rising fascism meets up with Elphaba and Galinda in a fateful voyage to the Emerald City to finally meet the Wizard and grim truths are unearthed, newfound destinies are created, grave choices are made, and ultimate paths are chosen.
This may arrive as a shock to some of you dear readers, especially with the legacy of "Wicked" as a Broadway musical, but for my sensibilities, as a cinematic musical, Jon M. Chu's "Wicker Part One" is where it operates at its weakest. Now, this is not to suggest that there was anything about it that was necessarily bad. Absolutely not. There were quite a number of the songs and sequences themselves that clicked for me and I deeply appreciated Chu taking huge swings and reaching hard for that MGM musical brass ring. The enthusiasm at which Chu has filmed the sequences delivered handsomely with regards to energy, choreography and cinematography, just as he demonstrated with "In The Heights" (2021), which for my money was a superlative cinematic experience.
The film's opening number, "No One Mourns The Wicked" sets the cinematic stage extravagantly. "What Is this Feeling?" expertly captured the dorm room distaste between Elphaba and Galinda. To that end, I adored "The Wizard and I" and especially, the quietly devastating "I'm Not That Girl," each of which richly explores Elphaba's inner world throughout all of its peaks and deep valleys.
But, that being said, there are some minor pacing issues as some songs just weren't that memorable, and for me, they detracted from the story that I was fully invested with. With musicals, the story and the songs have to work in lockstep and there were some spots where they didn't quite match up. One notable sequence is the dizzying "Dancing Through Life," Fiyero's Pied Piper call to blowing life's responsibilities off every once in awhile. Jon M. Chu stages and films the sequence gorgeously but I honestly cannot remember even one note of the song.
Granted, not every song is "Popular" or especially the astounding "Defying Gravity," for it would be more than a bit much to have every song exist as a crescendo. And as an additional note, I appreciated hearing the actual singing voices of Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh as well, for not every voice needs to be shooting for the rafters. All I am saying is here and there, I wanted the characters to stop singing so we could keep the actual story moving along...because a really strong story was being displayed.
As a prequel, Jon M. Chu's "Wicked Part One" provides a superior level of story telling craft which alters everything we already now about the classic story and characters while also providing convincing beats which detail Elphaba's now iconic wardrobe, the genesis of the Yellow Brick Road as well as additional origin stories for other key denizens in the land Of Oz.
As a story largely set within a school campus in a magical land, our relationships with the "Harry Potter" film series (2001-2011) have certainly given us a leg up with this conceptual framework but it is all within the campus social politics where the youthful energy and emotions remain at their truest. To that, much praise should be heaped upon Screenwriter Winnie Holzman, who created the shamefully short lived jewel of a television series "My So-Called Life" (1994-1995), which so achingly captured that crucial formative period of self discovery in all of its pains and awkwardness, selfishness, and cruelty, and of course, moments of epiphany, and she translates those exact same feelings to "Wicked" with sensitivity, humor, and dark emotions that I believe will transport viewers back to their own formative years powerfully.
For all of the connective tissue to the original story and film, Jon M. Chu successfully straddles an extremely difficult line of essentially not rewriting what we already know, therefore forever altering (or even erasing) whatever feelings we may have towards our over familiarity to the story and characters. "Wicked Part One" exists as a continuation of the source material and as a re-telling of that same material, allowing us to experience the story from a different perspective altogether.
To that end, I feel that the strongest conceptual and emotional connective tissue is not entirely to the original film, so to speak. But to actually Sidney Lumet's "The Wiz" (1978), itself based upon the the Tony Award winning 1974 Broadway musical of the same name fueled by the music and lyrics of Charlie Smalls and each version starring an entirely Black cast of actors, singers and dancers. (Incidentally, just before my screening of "Wicked Part One," the theater had a pre-show of classic clips from past incarnations of "The Wizard Of Oz" including "The Wiz," a film I have not seen in decades but the song presented--"(I'm A) Mean Ole Lion"--rushed instantly back from memory to present--now that's a musical!)
With "The Wiz," a film that I still feel is unforgivably undervalued within the larger American culture (Good Lord, that film is a Master Class in set, makeup and costume design as well as practical effects) but rightfully remains revered in African-American culture, as I have always expressed upon this site, representation matters. As a child, it meant everything to see people who looked and sounded like myself and my family portrayed on screen within a fantasy film, which was always primarily populated by Whiteness. Over the years, "The Wiz" became a resplendent guidebook of the Black experience presented directly to us for us and (Lumet notwithstanding) by us for the betterment of having ourselves fully seen and therefore extolling messages of self-reliance, self-love, unity and ascension. "The Wiz" told us that despite what the outside world may say or think about us, we HAVE brains, we HAVE hearts, we HAVE courage and we are all going to ease on down the road together as we find our way back "Home," the title of the film's extraordinary finale that Diana Ross as Dorothy sings as if she is living her last breaths on Earth.
While not a fan, I have to give Ariana Grande her flowers as she embodies Galinda with aplomb, a dynamic comedic energy plus several darker shadings that reveal themselves to shattering degrees as the film progresses. But, for me, "Wicked Part One" is owned completely by Cynthia Erivo who I deeply hope is remembered during Oscar season.
Cynthis Erivo's performance as Elphaba is not one of domination. She certainly does not spend the nearly three hour running time roaring through the scenery. Quite the contrary, she amasses a performance that is indeed interior and explosive as it one of ascension and evolution. Again, if it was entirely "Defying Gravity," it would be exhausting and exhaustive. Erivo finds so much depth in the delicateness of the Elphaba. Her solitude. Her loneliness. Her self-loathing. Her wishes, fears, desires and deep existential hurts. She truly captured what it means to be an outcast to be seen yet so demonstrably unseen, and therefore unvalued and to certain degrees, unloved...except by the animal community who befriends and accepts her and with whom she builds solidarity as the story unfolds to darker territories. It is when the film it actually at its quietest (save for the finale) where it and therefore, Erivo conjures its greatest power.
For me, the sequence set at the Ozdust Ballroom, a large portion of it completely without dialogue or sung words just levelled me. This is exactly where I felt that Jon M. Chu's Wicked Part One" shared some alchemy with "The Wiz." I am vividly recalling the sequence after which Eveline, the Wicked Witch of the West (played by the formidable Mabel King) is vanquished by Dorothy and the spell over her gargoyle minions is broken. The creatures begin to shed their grotesque skins revealing the sights of stunning, gorgeously beautiful Black bodies underneath erupting in the revivalist dance of "Everybody Rejoice"--to me, as an adult conveyed the deeper message of "The outside world sees us as monsters but THIS is who we truly are...and have always been!"
Again, representation matters and through the act of having Cynthis Erivo portray the green skinned Elphaba, her lived experience as a Black, queer woman now informed the life of the fictional Elphaba, and therefore reflected so much emotional territory back to me as a Black man living in a largely White world, functioning in largely White spaces.
I will forever know how it feels to be the only one in the room who looks like myself--and how differently those feelings have changed over the years as I have aged--for I have lived in that space for the entirety of my life. I remember distinctly the very moment at the age of perhaps 6, when I knew that I was Black, not through a self-concept but through how I was treated by one boy who was not like me. I will always know what it feels like to be unseen while all eyes are on me. How perceptions are instantly invented without ever knowing the content of my character or the breadth of my spirit. I regarded Elphaba with such empathy, solidarity and even attraction as I just knew that she would be someone that I would wish to know if she were real and we happened to be in school together. If only those around her could not only see the green of her skin in addition to the purity of her soul.
And that is what makes the Ozdust sequence so enormously affecting as Elphaba, the target of social humiliation once again, somehow, discovers the sense of self to not give in, to not run away, to unearth the beginnings of her ascension in self-acceptance. Yes, she wants to be accepted by others. Of course, she wants to fit in. But, here instead of wishing she were like everyone else, she begins to find strength in herself despite being othered. Additionally, Galinda's response to Elphaba contains some incredible multilayers as she is confronted with her own past actions towards Elphaba and therefore, makes a choice. Chu is wise enough to stage the sequence as a means to ask of us to examine if the end result is one of affirmation or appropriation or a bit of both.
Now, I have to turn my attention to "Defying Gravity," which for me worked seismically as combined climax/cliffhanger as well as the the culmination of all set n motion from the Ozdust Ballroom sequence. Cynthia Erivo, much like the miraculous visuals, is mountainous!
This time, I was reminded a bit of Ava DuVernay's "A Wrinkle In Time" (2018), her gently flawed yet boldly ambitious, esoteric children's film in which in my own review (originally posted March 2018), I asked of you when was the last time you have ever seen a Black girl fly in the movies? When Elphaba reaches into herself and claims the fullness of her potential, realizing that everything that has set her apart is precisely what makes her phenomenal, that final HIGH NOTE she reaches is transcendent for it is her war cry. Elphaba has been released from the prison society has placed upon her and the trappings she resultingly set for herself along the way due to her being othered.
In the larger framework of the story, where the tides of fascism are rising, she has harnessed the strength to take on the establishment, essentially imploring her new best friend Galinda (now officially "Glinda") to get on the broom with her and they can fight together instead of against each other. Which leads us directly to the power of Ariana Grande's performance as she deftly conveys someone who is forced to side with what is ostracized in honor of protecting the greater good or succumbing to her own comfort with oppression as it does not directly affect herself, and in fact, benefitting from it.
Despite whatever grounds made in her relationship with Elphaba, Galinda is still housing resentment as Elphaba naturally possesses everything (intelligence, empathy, skills, talent, heart, beauty--as evidenced by Fiyero's clear silent connection and attraction--and magical powers) she wishes she possessed for herself. Galinda in underserving and she knows it yet, she is more than willing to cultivate for her own comfortable ends and fail upwards at the expense of her friendship and the sanctity of Oz as a whole. As the film ended, I thought to myself, "Welp...that was just the 2024 election right there."
Jon M. Chu's "Wicked art One" is a sparkling, dynamic musical fantasia that strongly keeps its heart and soul firmly grounded while the sights spiral into the skies. Yes, my criticisms really exist as quibbles but I do stand by them because if I am not still humming the songs afterwards, did the songs truly serve their purpose? That being said, and as tired as I am from sequels...
...I wish I could grab my ticket for Part Two right now!
