Last year’s worldwide Barbie movie phenomenon unexpectedly generated record-breaking box office returns for the Warner Bros. feature film inspired by Mattel’s line of fashion-oriented dolls that many young girls have adored for decades. The financial success and audience adoration had to have grabbed the attention of Warner’s corporate rivals — which may explain Universal Studios’ full-bore marketing of Wicked, the $150 million-budgeted movie adaptation of the eponymous women-centric Broadway musical. With the release of Wicked on Nov. 22 generating combined U.S. and international ticket sales totaling $164 million in its first weekend, Universal’s gamble may very well pay off.
In fact, there’s quite a lot that’s conceptually attractive about Wicked, which purports to reveal the backstory of the witches who are so crucial to the plot of author L. Frank Baum’s beloved fantasy novel, The Wizard of Oz. Its provenance easily explains why the project made it to cinemas. Hollywood honchos favor previously successful narrative properties that can be remade, repurposed, sequel-ized, or prequel-ized, seeing a low-risk, high-reward situation. Wicked fits the bill: A big-screen version of a long-running musical that adapted a book that was a prequel to the beloved tome by Baum, which, of course, was turned into one of the most enduring movie musicals of all time — the one with Judy Garland as the naïve, yearning Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale who sings “Over the Rainbow,” then goes there via tornado and discovers the Land of Oz in all its freaky Technicolor glory.
The conceit of Wicked is to roll back time to before Dorothy met the Munchkin folk, ambulatory scarecrow, talking lion, emotional tin man, charlatan wizard, and magic-wielding witches. It’s the latter that Wicked puts in the spotlight. It recounts how prissy, pink-obsessed blonde Galinda, who became Glinda the Good Witch of Oz, met and became frenemies, then friends with green-skinned, black-clad, magically gifted Elphaba, the eventual Wicked Witch of the West, when they were at the Land of Oz’s premier bastion of higher education, Shiz University — and how they eventually ended up as the famous adversaries of The Wizard of Oz. With Elphaba’s skin color immediately branding her an outcast (even in a multiracial world where animals can speak), the impact of bigotry on victim and perpetrator alike isn’t a subtext here; it’s a core theme. In the words of the Muppets’ Kermit the Frog, “It’s not easy being green” — and that’s a challenge Elphaba experiences virtually every day of her life.
A cast that makes magic
While the original stage production reinforced the Broadway star power of Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda and Idina Menzel as Elphaba, the casting of the twin leads in the movie version deserves major kudos. Pop superstar Ariana Grande is ideal as Galinda and versatile Tony-winning actor and roof-raising singer Cynthia Erivo is a revelation as Elphaba. It’s no stretch to say that Erivo is a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination. The rest of the most significant players are pretty great too: Michelle Yeoh as Elphaba’s magic mentor at Shiz U, Madame Morrible; Jeff Goldblum in full amoral mode as the manipulative Wizard of Oz himself; and Jonathan Bailey as pretty-boy love interest, Prince Fiyero.
As hinted above, the Wicked movie is populated by a thoroughly inclusive cast. With apologies to Kermit and the Muppets, it’s a veritable rainbow connection. In a prime example of acknowledging the breadth of humanity, Elphaba’s non-green sister Nessarose is beautifully played by wheelchair-user Marissa Bode in her film debut. With all this diversity, there are no little people portraying the traditionally small Munchkins, just short people. On the other hand, acclaimed actor and little person Peter Dinklage voices a goat who is a venerable professor at Shiz U. And there are a lot of monkeys — flying and otherwise — with all of the creatures brought to life via the magic of CGI animation.
Soaring to new heights
So is the cinematic Wicked any good? It’s a little bloated at two hours and 40 minutes long. The script by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox ranges from sharp to perfunctory. But if it stalls here and there, this extravaganza never looks less than spectacular. The art direction and costuming are stunning and should clean up at every award ceremony in the coming months. And while the story rightly keeps focus on the relationship between Galinda and Elphaba, director Jon M. Chu — who established his feature film bonafides with the class-conscious comedy Crazy Rich Asians and the inner-city musical In the Heights — doesn’t stint on the epic sweep of Wicked, and is constantly offering one visual treat after another that will keep a viewer’s attention, despite the length of the enterprise.
With Elphaba’s skin color immediately branding her an outcast, the impact of bigotry on victim and perpetrator alike is a core theme.
In the final analysis though, Wicked soars primarily due to the skill and charisma displayed by Erivo and Grande. Their vocal performances are lovely and occasionally gooseflesh-inducing. None of the familiar songs from The Wizard of Oz are used in Wicked, which is expected due to copyright issues. It’s also perfectly O.K., because Wicked boasts a couple of serious show-stoppers: Galinda/Grande’s infectious “Popular” and Elphaba/Erivo’s climactic “Defying Gravity.” Speaking of movie climaxes , yes, it’s long, but it’s also just Part 1, ending with a “To Be Continued” tag. And Part 2 won’t be released until Nov. 21 of next year. Seriously. The fans will need patience.
Because Universal has pulled out all the promotional stops with a hankering to generate a Barbie-style buzz, we shall see how the Galinda and Elphaba dolls (shades of you-know-who) and the fast-food tie-ins sell, and how profits are after a few more weeks in the multiplexes. All caveats aside, these Wicked witches are already flying high.
Wicked is currently in theaters nationwide.
