*This article contains spoilers
On Nov. 21, Broadway lovers once again filled the theaters, anticipating part two of the beloved play turned movie, Wicked: For Good. The iconic play Wicked, in its entirety, is the best-selling show on Broadway and serves as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. As you may know, Wicked, the first part of the play, came out in movie form last year and portrayed Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, and Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, as they room together at “Shiz University,” following their unlikely friendship. The first movie ended right where the play would take intermission after the famous song Defying Gravity, and the second half of the musical follows their journey through the World of Oz after Elphaba becomes the wicked witch, while Glinda becomes the good witch.
Similar to the first movie, the producers of Wicked: For Good continued to expand on scenes in the play. The original musical’s running time is around two hours and 45 minutes, which includes a 15-minute intermission. two movies combined total to just under five hours, and don’t include any breaks that the play would have, including intermission and set changes. These additions are extensive; Wicked: For Good includes two new songs. They are Elphaba’s “No Place Like Home” when trying to convince the animals to remain in Oz even after all of the danger for them there, and Glinda’s “The Girl in the Bubble” as Glinda is conflicted but ultimately decides to become ‘Glinda the Good’. I think both of these additions advanced the plot and engulfed viewers into the lives and conflicts of the two characters. During the play, many audience members view Glinda as the ‘villian’, but this song showed that neither of them are villains and Glinda was conflicted.
Adding on to that, Glinda and Prince Fiyero, played by Jonathan Bailey, the love interest for both Glinda and Elphaba, got engaged in both the play and the movie, but the movie fully shows the wedding and the aftermath of Glinda after he runs away with Elphaba. This also enhanced the idea of Glinda not being the villain, and shows how hurt she really was. This somewhat justifies the harm she caused when she provided an idea on how to get Elphaba back into Oz. Contrary to Elphaba’s childhood scene in the first movie, in Wicked: For Good, a scene from Glinda’s childhood was added in, continuing to explain why she values being “Glinda the Good” and this figure in society’s eyes. Grande even acknowledged this in an Instagram post with the young actress, with the caption “Thank you for your beautiful work and for allowing the world to understand our Glinda more deeply than ever before.”
A more progressive change to the movie was the importance of the shoes belonging to Nessarose, Elphaba’s disabled sister, played by Marissa Bode, differed. In the play, the magic of them allowed her to stand and walk when she wore them, but in the play, their magic gives her the feeling of “walking on air,” rather than wanting a disability to be ‘fixed’. This change was recommended by Bode herself, and I think it was a small change that didn’t affect the plot while still portraying a better message overall for the audience. It prevents unconscious perceptions that disabled people would want to be ‘fixed’. Finally, the last of Elphaba and Glinda’s conversation was changed to be more heartfelt and representative of their closeness and friendship by exchanging “I love yous” before Glinda hides. Although their goodbye is heartbreaking in both versions, I appreciated this version’s tear-jerking farewell.
There are a lot of comments online criticizing Grande and Erivo’s overly emotional responses in interviews, including crying, comforting, and hand-holding. Although it seems a little melodramatic, it is clear they held this project very close to their hearts, and that showed evidently throughout the movie and their off-screen interviews and appearances. Therefore, I couldn’t imagine a better cast, and I have never seen a cast so passionate about a project before. The only critique within the cast that I have is from Michelle Yeoh, who plays Madame Morrible, and I simply wish they would’ve used someone else’s voice during her songs. Her acting was great, but this was her first on-screen singing role and it was obvious she didn’t hold her own compared to the rest of the cast.
The advantages of a movie are that viewers really get immersed in the world. In Wicked: For Good, there is an emotional scene showing Elphaba finding a ton of animals in cages, and releasing them. After, they run through and fully destroy Fiyero and Glinda’s wedding. This scene is just one example of a moment a play can’t capture the same way a movie can, at least visually. Another aspect that does this is the settings; there are a lot of setting changes as viewers are comparing Glinda and Elphaba’s worlds, and during the play, you don’t get as much direct juxtaposition because they are unable to go back and forth between the settings as often. Overall, the movie does a great job of inviting the audience into the world of the Wizard of Oz, and the medium of a movie in general promotes more involvement in the story.
Even though the Broadway version will always hold a special place in my heart, Director Jon M. Chu did an amazing job at keeping the original storyline while adding deeper and more complex elements to fully give the audience the feeling of being in the story. The casting, settings, musicality, and production were phenomenal, and I would highly recommend seeing it!
