By Aliza Billet, Arts and Cultures Editor
In a world where movie theaters are flooded with sequels and live-action remakes, where original stories are hard to come by, film adaptations of stage musicals – ready-made stories already in visual formats – often seem like easy projects for filmmakers. Recently, however, films such as Cats (2019), Dear Evan Hansen (2021), and Mean Girls (2024) are examples of utter failures when it came to adapting well-liked stage productions for the big screen. These adaptations, while true to the stories they were based on, disappointed long-time fans of the original musicals for various mistakes they made along the road of adaptation.
As the fourth-longest-running musical on Broadway, it was inevitable that Wicked, the “untold story” of The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, would eventually be made into a film. However, in 2022, when director Jon M. Chu announced that the musical would be produced as two feature-length films, fans were confused.
Wicked, which follows The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, before the events of Dorothy’s story, already has a two-and-a-half hour runtime. What could the film adaptation do that required double the time of the source material? That, coupled with the casting of pop star Ariana Grande (as opposed to an actor more familiar with theater performance) as one of the two leads, left fans concerned about the quality of the film.
Well, the concern was for nothing. Wicked (2024) is everything a musical fan could ask for from a film adaptation. It is a beautiful film that comes across like a love letter to the source material, with extravagant sets and overall production quality, excellent acting, satisfying vocals and practically perfect pacing (though I still can’t tell you how they extended one act to fill a feature-length film).
The first rule of musical-to-film adaptations is that the film needs to justify its existence by contributing to the musical’s story in some way the original couldn’t. Films need to elevate the musical stories they’re based on by contributing factors that are impossible to achieve on the stage; otherwise, they could just be videos of the stage performances themselves.
Wicked understands this rule from the opening number through to the end, relying on massive sets and bright colors to bring the world of Oz to life in ways simply not possible to do on the stage. Also, the addition of practical effects as opposed to relying heavily on CGI – as many films are wont to do nowadays – brings a joy to the film not often found nowadays; audience members feel like they are not only viewing a story, but witnessing a performance.
Movie musicals, ironically, often like to shy away from the fact that they are musicals. They begrudgingly allow the main characters to sing their songs while everyone else on screen ignores the singing, carrying out their business as usual; they lower the energy and vocal quality of the high-energy songs; or they cut a chunk of the songs altogether while adding new ones in attempts to win Best Original Song Oscars they never end up nominated for.
Wicked does the opposite of all of that. The music is full of large-scale, high energy ensemble numbers, complete with exciting choreography that has got the whole internet dancing. Lovers of the musical watch happily as the music they know and love is brought to life in epic proportions.
Not only are the songs performed with the authentic appreciation and vocal quality they are due, but they are acted excellently, as well. Everyone knew Grande could sing, but she leaves her pop voice behind when taking on the role of Glinda. At the same time as she performs the character’s challenging songs flawlessly and with sensitivity and grace, she surprisingly succeeds at capturing the comedy embedded in the character, proving that Glinda does not need to feed off of live audience reactions in order to be funny.
Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba is so heartfelt and earnest, and audiences can’t help but fall in love with her. Jonathan Bailey, heartthrob of Bridgerton fame, conveys the complexity of Fiyero elegantly as well, leaving fans of the original musical very excited for Wicked: Part Two, because they know what’s coming. Jeff Goldblum shocks nobody with his engaging portrayal of the sleazy Wizard, and he even comes through and does the impossible: “Sentimental Man” is no longer a pain to sit through. The only singing actor whose vocal talents do not shine through is Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible, but she justifies her part in the film through the strong presence she brings to the character. She captures the two-sided nature of Morrible so slickly, and fans of the musical leave the movie looking forward to seeing what she’s going to do in the next one.
As with everything else in the film, the filmmakers clearly knew what they were doing when they decided to split this single into two feature-length films; the pacing of this film is normal, with no aspects feeling too fast, and more importantly, nothing dragging. By giving the story the time it needs to breathe, the filmmakers transformed a fun story of two young women going down different paths into a complex and relatable story about discrimination and loneliness, despite its being set in the magical land of Oz. Certain emotional moments even land harder because of the time they are given, and the audience definitely gets to know the characters and world better in this film than they do in the stage version, which only serves the story in a good way.
Wicked is a beautiful film adaptation of the beloved Broadway classic. By embracing all the things that make it such a wonderful story to begin with and using the screen to elevate the story rather than stifle it, filmmakers can be proud to know that their story defied gravity all the way to the top of the list of movie musicals. I, for one, am happy to treat this next year like an intermission between acts one and two of the Wicked movie, even with the many bathroom breaks it will include, and I hope that this film paves the way for future movie musical makers to actually create quality films as they inevitably continue to tackle our favorite works of art.
Photo Caption: YU students at “Wicked” with the AMC Club
Photo Credit: The AMC Club