For Good: Why the Wicked Musical Divides Fans

Wicked: For Good completes the first film adaptation of the hit musical. Despite a huge budget, the directors failed to give the film any real consistency other than that of sour candy.

Thomas Studer / ch media

The film adaptation of the musical Wickeda prequel to the Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), is a “perfect” mixture of Hollywood failings. In the name of profitability, subjects are often overexploited, without much finesse.

The musical Wicked had been such a success since 2003 that it seemed logical to bring it to the big screen. And since two films potentially bring in twice as much as one, American director Jon Murray Chu divided the two-and-a-half-hour musical into two 150-minute films.

Already extremely honeyed, Wickedwas released a year ago, with the buzz we know. It cost Universal studio approximately $150 million, and grossed more than $750 million at the worldwide box office.

The second part, Wicked: For Good, has recently been in theaters. It cost just as much as the first, and its marketing budget bordered on the absurd. As proof, we want special editions of Le Creuset pans or dishwasher tablets.

These two products have nothing to do with the world of the film. But the quality of an advertisement in no way corresponds to the quality of what it promotes.

Two witches who are completely opposed

If you haven’t seen the musical or don’t remember it, the plot of Wicked takes place before that of Wizard of Oz. We are not interested in Dorothy, this young girl who leaves Kansas to find herself in the magical land of Oz, but in the two witches that Dorothy meets in Oz.

The good white witch Glinda, dressed in a pink ball gown, and the wicked one (in the original: “wicked witch”) with her black pointy hat and green skin.

In The Wizard of Ozthe green witch has no name and little character. In Wickedshe has both. Her name is Elphaba (in reference to the initials of L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Wizard of Oz).

At the start, she is far from being evil, but becomes so despite herself. Partly because of his green skin, which causes him to suffer discrimination. She also rebels against the magician who reigns over the land of Oz, but who turns out to be an impostor and a potential fascist without any magical power.

The musical thus conveys a simple but fair message: it is better to cultivate tolerance and be wary of appearances. The plot is certainly not perfect and even becomes particularly muddled towards the end, because it seeks to resolve everything in an overly simplistic way. But the songs (composed by Stephen Schwartz) are extremely catchy and make up for most of the script’s shortcomings.

Still so kitsch

The first part focused on the first act of the musical. It recounted the difficult childhood of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and her meeting at school with the one who would later become the good witch, Glinda (Ariana Grande).

Together, they go to the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), recognize him as a charlatan, after which Elphaba declares war on him.

Literally and figuratively, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande promoted the films hand in hand.Keystone

The new Wicked: For Good tells the second and final act. The magician who rules with an iron fist has given Glinda the role of propaganda puppet, and is turning the population against Elphaba. A confrontation follows which disenchants the magician and explains where Dorothy’s companions come from (the brainless scarecrow, the heartless iron man, the courageless lion).

The scenario hangs on a (licorice) thread

Absolutely not constrained by the budget, director Jon Murray Chu delivers magnificent and shimmering images. The landscapes are spectacular, the special effects and the fairytale costumes will clearly earn it an Oscar nomination.

As in the first part, the main actresses, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, both exceptional singers, shine brightly.

Behind his smile, the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) has a psychopathic side… Keystone

The second feature film therefore also resembles a packet of candy: very colorful, very sweet, a little exciting, but not very satisfying. Because Wicked: Partie II brings out even better what we already deplored in the first part. Despite an astronomical budget and five hours of footage in total, the directors failed to give substance to it all.

There are certainly plenty of new songs and flashbacks. For the rest, the films stick so closely to the musical that the plot problems only persist or even get worse due to the length.

As if we hadn’t risked offering the public something other than what they already knew from Broadway. From a business point of view, this makes sense. From an artistic point of view, much less.

Wicked: For Good, currently in theaters.

(Translated and adapted by Valentine Zenker)

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