The first part of a story about an unlikely friendship.
The first inspiration for Wicked was the novel by L. Frank Baum titled ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ published on May 17th, 1900. Baum’s book then inspired the novel ‘Wicked’ by Gregory Maguire in 1995. This inspired the creation of ‘Wicked,’ a musical by Stephen Schwartz, which opened on June 10th, 2003 at the Curran Theatre. The 2024 movie adaptation is adapted from the musical’s first act, and the second half is expected to come out on November 21, 2025.
Wicked hit the box office on November 22, 2024, and made $164 million on just the opening weekend. Wicked also surpassed Mamma Mia! as the highest-grossing film based on a Broadway musical. It was directed by Jon M. Chu and produced by Marc Platt and David Stone. It’s a PG movie in the fantasy and musical genre in the Land of Oz mythical world.
The cast is full of major stars like Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, and Michelle Yeoh. The story follows Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, and Galinda, played by Ariana Grande. The movie opens with the audience seeing Glinda the Good celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West in Munchkin Land until someone confronts her about their old friendship. Glinda reflects on the time in school when the unlikely pair become very close friends during their time at the fictional Shiz University. Elphaba struggles with her father’s indifference and peer rejection. Galinda, who is used to getting everything she wants, begins to resent Elphaba because she gained Madame Morrible’s attention. This leads to Galinda coming off as shallow towards Elphaba since she idolizes Morrible, leading to Galinda being very hostile towards each other.
The students of Shiz sneak out to this underground dance called the Ozdust later in the film. At the Ozdust, Galinda is enveloped by people because she is so popular. Madame Morrible gives Galinda a training wand, assuring her she still doesn’t have faith in her. However, Elphaba requested Morrible to give Galinda a chance. Galinda is extremely excited but then sees Elphaba come to the dance in the ugly hat she had gifted her. Initially, the hat was a gift to try and make her look bad because of a joke among her friends. However, Galinda sees everyone laughing and judging her, and she feels awful since Elphaba has just helped her. Elphaba does a weird dance that scares everyone and makes everyone laugh at her. Galinda joins her in this dance, knowing she’ll lose respect and popularity, and this is the start of their close friendship.
However, there is darkness in the Land of Oz. The animals are being taken against their will and losing their ability to ever speak again. This happens to their professor, who is a goat, right before their eyes. Elphaba is bold and unwilling to back down, so she goes to the Emerald City and takes Galinda with her. Galinda changes her name to Glinda because their old professor couldn’t pronounce the ‘Ga’, and she does this in solidarity for the animals. After all this, Glinda and Elphaba meet the wonderful Wizard of Oz by invitation to the palace. When they get there, they see a grand machine that ultimately turns out to be just a man. The Wizard of Oz greets them and offers Elphaba a wish. Instead of choosing to change her skin to be normal, aka her original wish, she says she wants to help the animals. Elphaba tries to use the sacred Grimmerie, their spellbook, with encouragement from Morrible and The Wizard. She succeeds but then realizes that the Wizard is a fake and he can’t actually read The Grimmerie. He turns out to be the reason for the animals’ mistreatment. When Glinda and Elphaba realize this, they run off with The Grimmerie. Elphaba and Glinda flee from the guards, but Glinda reaches a point where she can no longer follow her. Elphaba is falsely painted as a horrible witch by Morrible and the wizard as she flees on her broom because they want to hide their evil intentions.
The cinematography of Wicked is incredibly directed by Alice Brooks. Colors convey emotion in this movie, even to the extent of having a scene for each color of the rainbow. For example, the Ozdust dance is covered in blue themes to make Glinda and Elphaba stand out in their dresses. Shadow and light are used to convey good and evil, which is a massive theme in Wicked. That’s why when we meet Glinda the Good at the very start in Munchkin Land, the sun shines brightly behind her. This theme is also shown in how Brooks conveys the sun setting for Elphaba and rising for Glinda, foreshadowing how they will be portrayed later in the film.
Wicked is full of themes of friendship and adversity. Like Elphaba getting harassment because of her green skin, or the animals just because they are another species. They are actively being silenced even when they’re just as intelligent. We’re all very excited for Wicked: For Good in November 2025. My rating is 9/10
