WICKED: PART 1
(director: Jon M. Chu; screenwriters: music book and screenplay by Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, novel by Gregory Maguire; cinematographer: Alice Brooks; editor: Myron Kerstein; music: John Powell, Stephen Schwartz; cast: Cynthia Erivio (Elphaba), Ariana Grande-Butera (Glinda), Jonathan Bailey (Flyero), Jeff Goldblum (Wizard), Peter Dinklage (voice of Dr. Dillamond), Ethan Slater (Boq), Bowen Yang (Phanee), Marissa Bode (Nessarose), Bronwyn James (ShenShen), Jonathan Bailey (Prince Flyvero), Courtney Mae-Briggs (Meiena Thropp), Andy Nyman (Frexpar Thropp), Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible); Runtime: 160; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: Marc Platt, David Stone; Universal Pictures; 2024)
“A fantasy musical that should appeal to those who loved the stage version.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The immensely popular Tony-winning musical played on Broadway for over two decades, opening in 2003. It’s adapted to the screen by the Broadway lyricist producer Stephen Schwartz and by director Jon M. Chu (“In the Heights”/”Crazy Rich Asians”), and is filmed in two parts–with next year being the release date for Part 2.
It’s based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire and the music book by Winnie Holzman. The screen play is by Holzman and Dana Fox.
In 1939 Frank Baum’s classic novel on the magical place of Oz was made into a sensational fantasy musical starring Judy Garland, and became the fable’s most beloved production.
Jeff Goldblum is the Wizard of Oz, in a story told from the POV of the Wicked Witch, with Dorothy and the Wizard becoming the bad guys.
The sympathetic villain is the green-faced Wicked Witch of the West. We follow her early life as Elphaba (Cynthia Erivio), as we learn why she became so mean after attending Shiz University for witches in Oz and shared a dorm room there with the blonde princess Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera), who will become the Good Witch of the North and travel in a pink bubble to the land of the Munchkins.
Elphaba is mentored by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the Headmistress, who took a liking to her.
At the school, both witches will desire their aristocratic classmate Prince Flyvero (Jonathan Bailey).
Through flashbacks Glinda narrates how she took a different path in life from Elphaba, and ended up putting her to death.
The overlong but impressive film is stylish, campy, visually stunning (how about those CG flying monkeys!), musically alive (the gifted Cynthia Erivio has a rapturous voice and gives a star performance), and is on point when saying pertinent things about growing up different than others.
It’s a Hollywood spectacle to trip out on. It’s a fantasy musical that should appeal to those who loved the stage version. My favorite number has Jonathan Bailey singing in the school library ‘Dancing Through Life,’ as through rotating wheels he magically has access to the books on the shelves.
REVIEWED ON 11/23/2024 GRADE: B+
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