Stream it:
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With: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum
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Written by: Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, based on the musical by Winnie Holzman, and on the novel by Gregory Maguire
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Directed by: Jon M. Chu
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MPAA Rating: PG for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material
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Running Time: 160
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Date: 11/22/2024
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Every Witch Way
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
I had no skin in the game for Wicked, green or otherwise. I read the novel by Gregory Maguire once, but didn't really remember much about it. I had never seen the play, nor heard the music, and I really didn't have any desire one way or the other to see the movie. Hope came when I realized that director Jon M. Chu was in charge. He was best known for Crazy Rich Asians, but he also made In the Heights, a four-star musical that made my ten-best list in 2021.
Despite the feeling that it should be a Big Screen experience, we decided to watch Wicked at home, via Universal Pictures's awards screener. This turned out to be the right choice. The optional subtitles helped me to better grasp the nuances of the songs. Cynthia Erivo, who has never once let me down, once again did not let me down. But I didn't expect how adorable and hilarious Ariana Grande would be. The final click was that I was reminded while watching of how much I love The Wizard of Oz, which made it easy to slide into this world.
Erivo plays Elphaba, who was born an outcast with green skin. She winds up enrolling in Shiz University with her younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), after the Dean of Sorcery, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), witnesses an unexpected feat of magic. This pits Elphaba against the blonde, popular, and ambitious Galinda (Ariana Grande-Butera). Jeff Goldblum (as the Wizard), Jonathan Bailey (as Fiyero), Ethan Slater (as Boq), and Peter Dinklage (as the voice of Dr. Dillamond, a goat professor), are all magnificent.
The movie tackles themes of bigotry and classism as well as tolerance and acceptance, which, in the weeks after the 2024 election slaughter, felt especially pertinent. Chu also decided to stretch the musical out into two movies (this is only Part One), which makes Wicked feel less rushed, less busy. I often describe movie adaptations of Broadway musicals as bulldozers, bludgeoning their audiences with flash and noise. This one comes alive; it pulses and breathes, and it has a genuine heart (as well as a brain and courage).
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