Wicked is simply wizard.
Wicked is the latest cinematic journey into the Land of Oz, building upon a long legacy of adaptations that have reinterpreted L. Frank Baum’s original works. Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West served as the source material for the Broadway musical, reimagining the story through a darker, more introspective lens. This film adaptation brings Maguire’s unique perspective to life with a lavish production that honours both the stage musical and the broader Oz mythology, while adding its own cinematic flair.
Maguire’s novel is a stark departure from Baum’s original whimsical tale, offering a polemic exploration of power, prejudice, and the nature of evil. It presents Elphaba not as a villain but as a misunderstood protagonist whose actions are shaped by the corruption and injustices of Oz. The book is a dense, complex political allegory, rich with moral ambiguity and a deep dive into the social and political structures of Oz. In contrast, the stage musical, adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, took a more accessible and optimistic approach. It preserved some of Maguire’s depth but leaned heavily into the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, focusing on themes of acceptance, love, and personal transformation. The musical softened much of the novel’s darker content, emphasizing the characters’ emotional journeys and making it more family-friendly and emotionally resonant. In essence, the book sets out to make you think; the musical sets out to make you feel. Chu’s film adaptation picks up the baton seamlessly from the stage production, using cinema’s simultaneously grander and more intimate canvas to embrace both the beautifully developed depths of the characters of the musical and the complexity of Maguire’s richly textured, re-examined Oz.
Wicked follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a young woman born with emerald-green skin, whose talent and fiery spirit often leave her feeling like an outsider. Accompanying her sister Nessa (Marissa Bode) to her enrolment at Shiz University, she meets Galinda (Ariana Grande), a popular and ambitious young woman with a penchant for showmanship. When Elphaba suffers a sudden magical outburst and catches the eye of the manipulative Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and finds herself enrolled at the school too, alongside the overeager Boq (Ethan Slater) and dashing prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). Although Galinda and Elpheba start out as bitter rivals, circumstances and self-discovery forge a close friendship between the unlikely pair, a friendship that is put to the test when they are finally granted an audience with the inscrutable Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) himself.
Jon M Chu’s Wicked is a triumph. This first instalment of the two-part adaptation takes one of modern Broadway’s most iconic musicals and elevates it into a cinematic experience that is as powerful as it is breathtaking. With a stellar cast, emotional depth, and visuals that dazzle, it delivers on every level, including the desire, the moment the words “To Be Continued” appear on the screen, to march on Universal Studios headquarters and demand the early and immediate release of part two. Failing that, a compulsion to exit the screen, head straight to the box office and book to see it again at the next available showing.
At the heart of the film’s power are the extraordinary performances of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Erivo’s Elphaba is a tour de force, her every moment imbued with raw vulnerability and simmering, righteous fury. Her journey from misunderstood outcast to empowered figure of legend is brought to life with such depth and nuance that it’s impossible not to be swept away. I’ve seen the stage musical a couple of times and obviously I’ve seen footage of the OGs Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth (who both get a lovely passing-of-the-torch moment when Galinda and Elpheba arrive in The Emerald City) but there’s a fathomless depth of heartache that Erivo brings to the roll that I haven’t seen explored with such skill and grace before. Of course, cinema affords a much closer, yet vaster canvas on which to perform than the stage and Erivo fills every corner of that silver screen with Elpheba’s emotional truth. Ariana Grande’s Galinda, meanwhile, is nothing short of a revelation. While I had little doubt that Grande could pull off the superficial bubble-gum mean girl aesthetic that’s the beginning of Galinda’s journey, she astonishes from her very first scene in Munchkinland, masterfully layering the character’s sparkling charm with moments of doubt and introspection, creating a portrayal that evolves from comical satire to something far more poignant. For those fans who have seen the musical and know how events will unfold in Wicked Part 2, there’s an intricacy to her performance during the events of “No One Mourns the Wicked”, little touches here and there that will break your heart before the movie even gets going. Individually, they’re astonishing; together they’re electric, their chemistry illuminating the whole experience, making every moment powerfully resonant.
The supporting cast are no makeweights either. Jonathan Bailey’s impossibly alluring Fiyero will likely have created a few more friends of Dorothy than may have existed prior to watching the film, such is his all-conquering magnetism. Exuding boundless charm and a conflicted complexity, his work here sets up a much more pivotal role to come in the concluding part. Michelle Yeoh likewise brings an icy menace as Madame Morrible, positioning her for great and terrible things as the story unfolds while Ethan Slater and Marissa Bode make an early start on the heartbreak with their deceitful and doomed romance. It’s only Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard who feels slightly out of place – a disruptive, distractingly idiosyncratic note in an otherwise flawless symphony of performances. It’s not that he’s bad – how could he be, he’s Jeff Goldblum. It’s just that he’s…well, Jeff Goldblum and you’re never not aware of that.
Visually, as you’d expect, Wicked is nothing short of spectacular. The film’s design is a feast for the senses, from the jewel-toned splendour of the Emerald City to the haunting beauty of the darker corners of Oz. The costumes are dazzling works of art—Glinda’s frothy, glittering gowns and Elphaba’s evolving wardrobe subtly reflect the characters’ arcs, while the sets evoke both nostalgia and fresh wonder. Every frame bursts with colour and detail, creating a world that feels simultaneously familiar and new. Yes, there are scenes which feel a little bit overly-CGI and have that slightly chalky Love Hearts sense to them, but they are few and far between thanks to Chu’s determination to build as many practical sets as possible including, if you can believe it, the magnificent clockwork train to The Emerald City.
The decision to split the story into two parts proves to be an insidiously inspired choice. This first chapter allows for a level of world-building and character exploration rarely afforded in adaptations of this scale, and rises to an emotionally epic climax which couldn’t possibly as served as anything but an ending. “Defying Gravity” is designed to bring the curtain (and the house) down and so it does. The decision to adapt each act into separate movies also means that rather than rushing through the plot, Wicked can linger in its quieter moments, drawing us deeper into the lives of its characters and the complexities of their relationships. There are no difficult choices to be made as to what and how deep to cut to fit an arbitrary timeline and so far from dragging out the pace, this approach lends the story an epic, operatic quality that elevates its drama and emotional stakes.
Wicked, after what seems like an eternity of weaponised hype and marketing, is here and – the Nameless God be praised – is a monumental achievement. It honours the legacy of its stage roots – and generations of source material ancestry – while transforming it into something uniquely cinematic. With this first chapter delivering such a triumphant opening act, anticipation for the conclusion will be nothing short of great and terrible to behold.
