The hit Broadway show “Wicked” is now a black box feature starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
The Broadway musical was first performed in 2003 and was based off of the “Wicked” novel series by Gregory Maguire. Elphaba was played by the famed Idina Menzel, and Glinda was portrayed by the one and only Kristin Chenoweth; both original on stage actors make a cameo in the 2024 film.
Over the years, the Broadway production has brought in $1.7 billion dollars and has won three Tony awards.
The film adaptation was released on Nov. 22 and, so far, has made a whopping $455 million dollars.
As a longtime Broadway and “Wicked” fan I was beyond excited to see the film. I first saw Wicked at the Fox Theater in 2017 and instantly fell in love with both spectacular musical performances and the incredible acting.
My expectations for the movie were set extremely high, not only am I a Wicked fan, but I am also a fan of Grande’s music. Additionally, the last movie I was this excited about was “Barbie” which is to say the least surpassed any preconceived notions or expectations.
After months of amazing advertising, and not being able to turn a corner in Target without seeing a Wicked partnership, I was finally able to see the film.
The story follows Elphaba (Erivo), later known as the Wicked Witch of the West, on her journey to meet the wizard and her time at the school Shiz University. While at Shiz, Elphaba meets Glinda (played by Grande), the good witch. Although the pair gets off to a rough start, the duo bonds. After a teacher discovers Elphaba’s exceptional abilities, she is sent to the Emerald City to meet the wizard, and takes Glinda with her. While in Emerald City, Elphaba and Glinda go to confront the Wizard (played by Jeff Goldbloom) about the forcing of animals to regress to their prehistoric way of being, instead of having consciousnesses equivalent to humans.
The movie ends with a breathtaking musical performance of Defying Gravity, one of the most famous songs from the Broadway musical.
This movie was only the first half of the story and the second half of the production will pick up in Spring 2025.
Because “Wicked” is originally a musical, the film showcased many songs from it. Although all the movie versions of the songs have been big hits, “Defying Gravity” has been the most streamed track on Spotify so far, with over 37 million plays.
The movie was a beautiful adaptation of the musical and novel. Overall, I would give this movie a 9/10 as it was beautifully orchestrated in its making.
