When I first started hearing about Jon Chu’s Wicked adaptation, it was a few months ago and it was mostly about the shock and confusion involved in the collective discovery that this movie was sort of stealthily–following a Hollywood trend–obscuring the fact that this movie was looong. Longer than the Broadway musical it’s, in part, based upon. And that it is, in fact, just Part One of Two. This detail, along with some weird ragebait controversies about how criticism behind G(a)linda’s transatlantic accent is a gendered double standard, or how the alteration of movie posters and the ethics of doing that to the first black actress to wear greenface for a role so obviously meant to stand in as a metaphor for the racial outsider sort of put me off of even considering seeing this film with (or without) the gremlin, who, like myself, is otherwise very partial to The Wizard of Oz IP. (The Gremlin has been cautiously positive to openly gleeful at the discovery that there are other movies about the Wicked Witch of the West after having seen the 1939 film last summer and then faithfully reading the Frank L Baum-adaptation with cool anime illustrations for months after. In the house, we are all Scarecrow and Tinman and Toto and Auntie is a Lion.)
It was only until about last week when the collective weight of Jon Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians’ level of hype marketing finally achieved critical mass–the articles that mentioned how many prosthetics were used to allow Cynthia Erivo to keep all her ear piercings in during the filming, the articles about how the press tour has achieved “peak theater kid,” the photos of Ariana Grande and Erivo showing off their matching tattoos to commemorate the movie(s), the Dax Sheppard interview weirdness of seeing a white dude taking cheapshots at a younger black actress, but also the way that the movie planted millions of poppies for wide shots, the way that Jonathan Bailey’s horse in this movie was also the horse he had in his role on Bridgerton–you know, stupid charming stuff. So, I re-evaluated, consulted with the Gremlin about interest (sustained by having seen Hocus Pocus last month) and we went.
I cannot rate the experience more highly. As someone who’s been on this earth long enough to have seen the musical as a teenager after having read the book–decided it had a few good songs in the first act but mostly it just was a little too earnest–and then saw it AGAIN years later only to be disappointed again by everything but the set design, I do have to say that in some ways Jon Chu has made the perfect adaptation. Why need I see Part 2 when I have already supped my fill of “Popular,” “Dancing Through Life,” and “Defying Gravity”? The Wizard even clicked his heels and alluded to doing the Wizard’s standout song from the second act, so I ask again, how is this not an improved adaptation of the musical by effectively removing the silly, darkly ironic tie-ins to the original source material and mirthless slog through the second half with barely a tune to sustain oneself? The first half is fully of invention, humor, and novelty–it is the school satire, the vaguely gay roommate romantic storyline we never knew we needed, and it’s not gonna get any better from here.
The first thing that stands out to me is that Cynthia Erivo is so fucking charming. Despite the fact that the online coverage of her involvement in some of the promotional tour has been to cast her as a sort of self-serious weirdo, her Elphaba is all about crooked smiles and off-beat humor, which just makes all of the jokes about her appearance and demeanor feel all the more on the nose: like, how do all these people poking fun of her outsider tendencies not get that the movie she’s being interviewed about has cast her as the outsider.
The cameo in this film is Han Solo in Force Awakens good for Wicked fans and really anyone who appreciates the magic that can come from splitting your brain into four directions at once with casting choices.
My parents had mentioned to me this morning before we left that there is a scene that was reducing audiences to tears, which prepared me a little bit but not completely to have my entire gut excised and then put back in during that one scene and the callback to the scene later. There should be a chairon or trigger warning at the beginning of the movie to warn you.
Ariana Grande’s casting had rankled me before seeing the movie. Especially after having heard that there is an alternate universe in which the effervescently vapid Amanda Seyfried (who apparently I have never written about in all the years I have been writing!) could’ve been in the bubble, or the sensationally mean Reneé Rapp. Bestie described Grande’s Galinda as being something like “psycho pixie,” like the fairy equivalent of Momo or that Tiktok girl Molly Moon. Watching Grande’s Galinda is kind of enthralling because it’s not at all a straight translation of Kristin Chenoweth’s character. It’s more like a 3D chess game, where Ariana Grande knows that you know that that she’s not Kristin Chenoweth, but she still is restrained by the script that Chenoweth was using, so everything about her delivery of those very same lines is what subverts your expectations and adds to the characterization. Instead of going bubbly, vain, vapid, and ignorantly horrible, Grande’s Galinda smirks while she says “You’re so lucky you met me” like she knows that you know that she’s being vain. She’s anticipating the nervous laugh from her interlocutor at her self-obsession and confidence, like she’s aware that she sounds full of herself, but if she makes you part of the conspiracy then you’ll play along because it’s intoxicating to be in the presence of someone that self-aware and charismatic.
Jonathan Bailey is completely unfettered from any restraints he may have had as the eldest Bridgerton here. His performance in Dancing Through Life is horny and fun and so queer! He’s sort of Lando-esque in his wide net of sexual interests: old people, men, women, social outcasts, redheads, etc., etc. His flirtatious meetcute with Galinda is spicy and his flirtatious meetcute with Elphaba is ghost pepper. The way he grips students’ hair and pulls their heads around during his choreography is really amazing; the way he giggles with his talking horse; the way he misspeaks, “I better get to safety.” Everything about the way he moves in the world makes him easy for even me to mimic, dancing outside the car while my Gremlin laughs at me through the window.
Probably the most last joke for me is the way that Galinda plays dead at one point.
The film doesn’t do very much to improve the obvious weirdness of the worst and most dated elements of the musical, the Nessarose character, played as “tragically beautiful” which is supposed to be twee, but just comes off as weirdly one-dimensional: all that the wheelchair girl wants to do is walk, but Greenface figured out that talking animals are more important than her complexion? But I’m going to chalk it up to “maybe things are more developed in the six hour sequel”. The films were reportedly filmed simultaneously (much like another famed pair of films from this past year), and the first part may have been meant to draw us into a franchise through the charisma of its two main characters, only to spend more time developing our ensemble later (Dune 2 style). It’s entirely possible that they won’t make any major changes but there’s already a little bit of effort to make Nessa the sort of person who gets annoyed when people push her chair for her, but not so much that she can see some other reason why she was asked to party other than her disability — so you win some and lose some, I guess. I still think it’s such a lovely fuck you to the audience to include the final moments of the movie in the trailer for the film, for an audience expecting that “Defying Gravity” won’t be a capstone to the film but rather the ending of the first act. The misdirects in the trailer (the Wizard’s explanation of common enemy strategy, the subversion of expectations about the marquee song from the musical) are the work of a confident and playful storyteller and promotional team. No notes!
