The Reel Review
Two students at a university in the mythical Land of Oz face a crossroads in their complicated friendship following an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star in this musical fantasy reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s classic 1900 tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Wicked: Part I is – no surprise – an audiovisual spectacle of blockbuster proportions. It has eye popping visuals and costumes, rousing production numbers and some phenomenal singing and acting from Erivo and Grande, whose wickedly hilarious Galinda frequently steals the show. It also has some really sweet Oscar-worthy moments of tenderness. The supporting cast includes an excellent Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton, Broadchurch) as love interest Fiyaro, Michelle Yeoh as their instructor, and Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard.
But not all is perfect in Oz. With a bloated two hour, forty-minute runtime, the at times sluggish story is at least 30 minutes too long and some of the frenetically overproduced production numbers come off as corny. On top of that is a frustrating bit of Broadway show fan service in the midsection that detracts from the film’s symbolic-laden message about the dangers of fascism. Wicked: Part I is still very good but could have been really great had it not watered itself down to make it more palatable to the masses. Here’s to hoping next year’s Wicked: Part II is even better.
REEL FACTS
• The name of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, was created by taking the phonetic pronunciation of the initials for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum.
• Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who reportedly brought director Jon M. Chu and the crew to tears during their audition, insisted on singing live throughout filming.
• The Broadway play, which began in 2003 and initially starred Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith, is the second largest stage hit of all time, second only to The Lion King, and one of only three shows (the third being The Phantom of the Opera) to clear $1 billion in ticket sales.
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