By Alys Martin -
Faithfully follow-follow-follow-following the yellow brick road navigated by the original Broadway musical, with a few delightful twists along the way, the long-anticipated film adaptation of Wicked is set to captivate young and old.
Wicked opens midway through the narrative of the 1939 film classic The Wizard of Oz. Somewhere over the rainbow, we reconvene with Good Witch Glinda (Ariana Grande) and the elated Munchkins celebrating the death-by-bucket demise of the Wicked Witch of the West at the hands of Dorothy Gale. As she lights an effigy of the loathed villain in the town square, Glinda poses the question which drives the central theme of this story – are people born wicked, or do they simply have wickedness thrust upon them?
Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), an accidentally-emerald skinned Ozian, has long found herself marginalised by her narrow-minded Munchkin community, when an unexpected display of magical talent earns her a place at the esteemed Shiz university. There she meets Glinda, (no, sorry) Galinda – her reluctant roommate and enthusiastic rival.
Of course, Galinda is everything that Elphaba is not – beautiful, pink skinned, accepted, universally loved and understood. Galindas’ outward facing performative ‘goodness’ is lauded, whilst Elphaba’s inner compassion but external bristliness is shunned. It ain’t easy being green.
The journey of this unlikely pair – from enemies to best of friends provides the narrative heartbeat which has endeared this story to audiences of the stage show all around the globe.
Its translation to the screen brings a new intimacy to this friendship, the camera is able to step viewers into story-telling spaces previously unreachable – the gentleness of vulnerable Elphaba and the pink perfection of Galinda’s hands touching on the dancefloor, the tears welling in Elphaba’s eyes as she battles her loneliness and pride, Galinda’s tiny tweak of bafflement at a lover losing interest in her irresistible charms.
But of course – the whole production is deliciously untethered as well – huge film set pieces, paired with CGI wizardry allow a reach far beyond the practical constraints of a physical theatre. This wonderful world of Oz is expansive and sparkling with colour, darkly glistening with danger, big, and terrifying and joyful.
The film has split the musical production into two parts, with Part Two due for theatre release this time next year. This creative decision by director Jon M. Chu allows for all of the songs and plotlines from the stage show to carry over without much tweaking, but it could be argued that a tighter edit on some scenes could improve the narrative pace.
We won’t go deep into spoilers here, but life in Oz is not all as it seems. The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is a shonky travelling showman with no real powers of sorcery, meaning that Elphaba’s natural but wildly untamed magical ability is a strategic asset of national importance. Goldblum’s creepy Wizard clings to the shreds of power with an insidious spy network, an ambitious infrastructure program designed to centralise the administrative capital of the Emerald City, and a plan to depose from positions of influence the talking animals of Oz.
There are some great cameos – which I’m astonished film makers managed to keep under wraps – the songs (recorded live on set) are delivered with raw gusto and heartfelt joy. The closing number – the show-stopping Defying Gravity, as Elphaba hits the gas on her broomstick and heads for the western sky – will leave audiences with their hearts in their throats. The last note echoing an eternal battle cry of female exasperation, exhaustion, exhilaration.
This film won’t please everyone, because to be fair, that’s a very tall order – when a piece of art is so beloved, any adaptation or change to the format or delivery is met in equal part with howls of indignation and breathless wonderment.
To answer Glinda the Good Witches earlier question about if we’re born wicked – well, it depends. Wicked isn’t afraid to explore the murky ambiguity around the nature of evil, and to recognise the role that time and place and circumstance play in our perception of it. And perhaps that is something, in our own wonderful land of Oz, that we all need a timely reminder of.
Verdict: 4 1/2 stars.
This jolly, thoughtful and eye-popping musical is likely to be a resounding success on screen and stream for years to come, driven not only by its already established fan base, but it’s suitability for younger audiences.
