For nearly twenty years, studios struggled trying to get hit Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ onto the big screen. The hit musical- showing a sympathetic side of ‘The Wizard of Oz’s’ Wicked Witch of the West- was soon finally green-lit a couple of years ago after twenty years of production hell. It was something that fans like me had been longing for twenty years.
However I was more hesitant than other fans; I didn’t trust current day Hollywood to get it right…especially after they had ruined another musical I liked- ‘Cats’- only a few years ago. I also didn’t like what I was seeing on the trailer CGI-wise either. Then word of mouth got out about how good the film version of ‘Wicked’ was and I was curious and wanted to see it for myself.
The story itself is based on the more spicier adult novel by Gregory Maguire despite its family-friendly look. Elphaba (Cynthia Ervio) is born with green skin and spends most of her life dealing with discrimination because of how different she looks. One day, she goes to Shiz University; Oz’s top University and meets Galinda (pop star Ariana Grande) her new roommate. At first neither of them get on very well with one another but soon Galinda pities Elphaba and becomes her friend.
As one who’s never seen the stage musical but has wanted to see it for nearly twenty years I was willing to give this film a chance as it was going to be as close as I could get to watching the musical on stage.
I very much enjoyed it despite my earlier doubts (especially considering Cynthia’s horrible response to a fan-made poster that was clearly a tribute to the Broadway musical poster). Maybe it was because I was making too many comparisons to the Broadway soundtrack with Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in it.
Everyone’s performances were excellent (I was very surprised about Ariana being able to do opera) including Cynthia’s version of the show-stopping ‘Defying Gravity’; a tune I always thought was going to be very hard to sing unless you’re Idina Menzel herself (seriously; you might as well recast Elsa and have someone else sing ‘Let It Go’ because that’s what it’d be the equivalent of)!
The only issue I had was that it felt very long because they were extending some of the scenes for the film particularly during the 'Defying Gravity' scene. I get that they were trying to expand on it because the first half of the stage show is something like a hour long.
If you enjoy musicals and the ‘Wicked’ stage show then I really recommend this version of it especially if you’re like me and have yet to watch the stage version. Bring on part 2!
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