Danielle Solzman
Wicked: Part One is cinematic spectacle that truly defies gravity in adapting the first half of the Broadway musical for the big screen. Part Two will arrive next November.
This is a public service announcement: I don’t recommend drinking an excessive amount of liquid during the movie. If you do, aim to go to the restroom just before the two-hour mark. This is right after the train departs for the Emerald City. There’s a musical number upon their arrival but you can still make it back before the big event. That being said, the Super Bowl teaser trailer (38 seconds in) shows a clip of Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion visiting the Wizard but I do not recall seeing it in the film. There is a brief clip of them walking the Yellow Brick Road in a montage celebrating Elphaba’s death–16 seconds into the second trailer. My guess is that it will be in Part Two. And now moving on to what you really came here to read!
Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) has the unfortunate luck of being born with green skin. The massive amount of teasing doesn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams. If anything, it may have prevented her from enrolling in Shiz University until Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) witnesses the extent of her power. On the other end of the coin is Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande), a privileged student at Shiz. She might appear privileged at first but she changes her name to Glinda to express solidarity with Oz’s animals. In any event, she wants to have magical powers. No amount of privilege can buy such powers!
This film is not just about Elphaba and Glinda. That said, Glinda has to friends with her for much of the film, Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and ShenShen (Bronwyn James). Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) enters the picture as a prince without as much as a care in the world. A munchkin, Boq (Ethan Slater), develops an interest in Glinda but Glinda’s more interested in Fiyero. Glinda manages to talk Boq into asking out Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Nessarose wears the very silver slippers that Dorothy will later wear, not ruby red.
Universal Pictures is campaigning Cynthia Erivo for Best Actress while Ariana Grande is going for Supporting Actress. They are both co-leads for what it’s worth. In any event, Erivo is an Oscar away from being the fourth member to join the EGOT club since the start of this year. If I had to guess right now, she’s going to get it. Her performance here is just that good. Grande is every bit as stunning in her performance for what it’s worth.
Nathan Crowley’s production design is some of the most stunning work I’ve seen on screen this year. The question right now is will he not only earn his seventh Oscar nomination but will the film be what leads to his first Oscar win. Cinematographer Alice Brooks beautifully lenses the film. To say that the visuals are stunning is not an understatement. Colors are certainly key to the storytelling as is the whole theme of light versus darkness. Meanwhile, Myron Kerstein’s work will most likely earn him another Oscar nomination for editing. There’s an old-school feel to just how much of the film takes advantage of practical sets rather than turn into a CGI film.
I knew from hearing offhand through the years how Wicked told Elphaba’s story. What I didn’t realize–despite Idina Menzel’s original casting on Broadway–was just how Jewish the story is. Not so much the L. Frank Baum books but through Winnie Holzman’s script and Stephen Schwartz’s lyrics and music for the stage. Holzman and Dana Fox are credited for the film’s script. What really resonates with me is the othering of Elphaba and the scapegoating. It’s no different than how society traditionally scapegoats the Jews for just about everything that goes wrong. Maybe Gregory Maguire was onto something in his revisionist novels.
Tanya Suskauer, who portrayed Elphaba during the national tour, told the Forward how it felt to tell the story as a Jewish woman:
There’s a line in the show that says, “The people just need a really good enemy. They need a scapegoat.” Throughout history, Jews have been designated as that scapegoat. If there’s an issue, the Jews did it. This happens time and time again – the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Holocaust – and that’s exactly what is happening here on the show. It’s happened to other minority groups, but as a Jewish woman, I can only bring my experience, and it hits really hard. The weight of it is not lost on me, and I consider it my duty to tell the story with my own personal thoughts and experiences intertwined with it.
We can see the scapegoating play out through the way that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible turn against Elphaba On the one hand, Elphaba is singlehandedly responsible for flying monkeys. However, it isn’t her fault that it’s a painful transformation. Up until the end, Glinda is there with her but she decides to stay put rather than go with her friend. Yes, they were friends even though they loathed each other at first. It was certainly a surprise to me! Anyway, Madame Morrible, Oz’s new press secretary, spreads the message that Elphaba is a wicked witch and people should not trust her. But is she really wicked or is that just what society wants to think about her? I’m now curious to see how the second half plays out.
What we learn during Elphaba and Glinda’s stay in Oz is that the Wizard is behind Oz’s animals being stripped of jobs and their voice. The treatment of Dr. Dillomond (Peter Dinklage) is a prime example. On the very day he tells his class that it’s his last day teaching, he is forcefully removed from the premises. Animals are targeted and start getting caged up, so as to take away their voices. It’s really no different than the treatment of Jews during the 1930s. This anti-Animal campaign also serves as an origin story for the Cowardly Lion. Interestingly enough, Elphaba and Fiyero play a role in saving the lion cub. I’ll be curious to see the full impact of Oz’s fascism during the second part of Wicked.
It’s hard to judge a film halfway through the storytelling and part of me feels like I should wait until I see the second part next November. To put things in perspective, the film’s run time (sans previews but including credits) is 2 hours, 41 minutes. The Broadway musical runs 2 hours, 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. Mind you, I’ve never read the book or seen the musical but it makes me wonder just what all they’ve added to the film. There are no deleted scenes or characters getting removed. Everything you love about the musical is here but on a grander and epic scale. It’s usually an original song or two–especially during the end credits–to get an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. What the run time tells me is that they really expand on the narrative since it is too long for just one film.
DIRECTOR: Jon M. Chu
SCREENWRITERS: Winnie Holzman and Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox
CAST: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum
Universal Pictures will release Wicked: Part One in theaters on November 22, 2024. Grade: 5/5
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