Wicked: Part 1

The musical adaptation is winning, if overstuffed

Broadway musicals don’t always translate to the silver screen. You can have hits such as Chicago (2002), but also suffer duds likes Cats (2019) and Dear Evan Hansen (2021). Jon M. Chu brought In the Heights (2021) wonderfully to the screen, but was unfortunate to release it mid-pandemic. The American director has his second chance at bringing a Broadway to the screen, with Wicked: Part 1 (2024).

Wicked: Part 1 is the adaptation of the Broadway prequel to The Wizard of Oz (1939), redefining the villainous witch, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo). We follow the green-skinned witch as she begins school as an outcast. She clashes with the popular and airy Galinda (Ariana Grande) and bonds with her professors the sorceress Madame Morrible (Michele Yeoh) and the talking goat Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage). However, our protagonist longs to go to the Emerald City and meet the all-powerful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) who could change Elphaba’s excluding skin color.

Chu is granted the biggest budget of his career and chooses to invest a majority of it on practical sets and costumes instead of a CGI bath. This, along with a direct translation of rhythms and beats from the stage production, give the sense of a live Broadway production rather than a film. This brings both benefits and drawbacks. The positives are the refreshing tone and flow for movie-goers, accustomed to the more restrained performances in movie musicals. However, when actors deliver a joke or end a song, they wait a beat for a non-existent audience laughter or applause coming off as awkward and marring scene transitions.

As with many musicals, songs are key to the film’s success, and Wicked’s brilliant score and lyrics had already proven up to the task. Another crucial element to musicals, however, is choreography. Wicked has an exhaustive list of dancers, yet Chu’s camera is badly employed to show them off. In the Heights had close-ups of lead singers and then pulled the camera back to show the synchronized cornucopia of dancers. In Wicked, we rarely get a wide shot of any number, instead sticking to low and tight shots that rob viewers from indulging in the choreography.

The film unnecessarily nears 3 hours and is only a Part 1. One can see clear moments of fat and filler to trim, from an overly long and tackily expository prologue, to a variety of songs that, while sacrilegious to cut for pure fans, don’t move the story forward in any meaningful way. Thankfully, the film doesn’t feel its length, due to the charismatic performances from Erivo and Grande. Their banter and comic timing are on point, with Grande proving a welcome surprise as a performer. The American actress had already gotten experience on the Nickelodeon show Victorious (2010-2013) and shown an adeptness at comedy when hosting Saturday Night Live (1975-), but in Wicked she not only employs her magnificent voice, but showcases a range and comfort of theatricality that promises an exciting career track. Erivo brings her dramatic chops and her incredible voice, to make the role of Elphaba her own; a difficult task given it was made iconic by Idina Menzel on Broadway.

Wicked: Part 1 works as a stand-alone film, bringing together satisfying character arcs to a close and leaving future threads open for its second and final part. The film, however, feels overstuffed with filler scenes and songs, and Chu’s framing of musical numbers leaves much to be desired. However, the irresistible songs and domineering leads make Wicked a fun ride for the holidays.

7.6/10