Wicked Part 1 review: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo put their heart and soul into creating magic on-screen!

Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked Part 1 paints you a fantasy land that’s difficult to forget once you’re out of the theatres. Here’s why!

Wicked Part 1 review: As a 5-year old, I remember watching Wizard of Oz on loop while having lunch. Little did I know that there was way more to this story than I could ever think of! The ‘Wicked Witch of the West’ whose laughter I was terrified of, had so much more to her than just being cruel to people. Wicked gives us an entire back story to Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) who eventually becomes the wicked witch and Glinda (Ariana Grande) who eventually becomes the good witch, their friendship, their high school drama, how everything went down eventually and why everyone is scared of her in Oz land.

Jon M.Chu who has previously given us the blockbuster ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ does a phenomenal job at adapting Wicked, a popular broadway musical for the screen. Every single detail has been worked on to the T and we can see the vision he had come alive rather beautifully on the big screen. The story begins with Elphaba being born to rich parents who are rather upset to see their daughter being born…green! Since then there’s no joke, no insult related to the color that she hasn’t heard. She had no friends, and was often not even treated like a daughter by her own father. Her sister Nessa (Marissa Bode) is the only daughter her father considers to be legit, but isn't able to walk. The day comes when Elphaba and her father go to drop Nessa at Shiz University. Here, Elphaba encounters Glinda, the stereotypical popular girl in school who only wears pink, roams around with her minions and the only thing on her mind is herself! When Elphaba unwillingly shows her powers to the whole school, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) insists on her admission to the school as well. Hence the two completely polar opposite girls are forced to be roommates in the dorm. But that's what starts a poignant and unlikely friendship between a misfit and the perfect girl next door. They both completed each other in ways they never even expected. 

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Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba is fierce and strong headed. When you look into her eyes, you can see how she embodies Elphie’s inner desires. She is just a star waiting to shine bright in front of the world. But because of her appearance and her opinions she is often suppressed and misunderstood by society. Wicked is HER journey and the events that led to her villain origin story and there are quite a few instances in the film where you feel bad for her and see things from her lens. Ariana Grande as Glinda is my spirit animal! I need her wardrobe, like every single piece in it. It screams Barbie and Legally Blonde in an era where none of this even existed. It was hard to take my eyes off her because of her solid screen presence and vocals. 

Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero feels like his Bridgerton self. He rides horses like Anthony and is confused between two women just like Anthony was. He thinks he should marry sweet Glinda but it's actually the enemies to lovers arc with Elphie that he can’t stop thinking about. You know when Michelle Yeoh walks in as Madame Morrbile she has something hiding up her sleeve. She manages to keep the mystery alive as someone who has skeletons in her closet. Jeff Goldblum plays the Wizard of Oz who actually is the main antagonist in this film. The one who has been deceiving everyone by acting like he is this great being who everyone in Oz should admire and respect. Goldblum brings out that wickedly deceiving nature of the character rather well.

There is no stone left unturned in the making of this film. There’s Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande singing all the tracks in the film live on set. So what you see in the movie is in fact their raw vocals. As a musical, Wicked does an impeccable job on the soundtrack. I had goosebumps all over while listening to Cynthia sing ‘Defying Gravity’ in the end and that’s literally what anybody can talk about. While this is a sci-fi/fantasy film, it also gives you a good amount of High School Musical drama. New school, new batch, new popular girls who love the same guy, dorm room aesthetics, it has chick flick blended into the story and I'm anyway a sucker for one!

Nathan Crowley, the set designer actually sowed nine million tulips for Munchkin Land to come alive. He had to time the growth of each tulip of different color so they all bloom at the same time. He actually built that train that took Elphie from Shiz University to Emerald City. Every set was built from the ground up. That is the level of detail he brought to the table and the dedication he had towards giving his audience a visually aesthetic larger than life world that they fully expected out of this film.

Paul Tazewell matched Nathan’s energy with costumes from the film that will live in my head rent free. Glinda’s Ozdust gown and her very first scene in the film when she comes down from the bubble are trending all over social media for all the right reasons. So many of her dresses are handpainted and there are quite a few easter eggs in the clothes as well. He wanted the costumes to be a part of the story and portray where each character’s state of mind was in every scene, and he achieved that effortlessly. There’s so much color in front of you simply because of the set and the clothes and that is so important in a film where colors play such a crucial role.

There are enough and more Wizard of Oz (movie and novel) references in this film - from the very beginning credits itself when Universal changed its color to black and white to give it a 1930s feel because that’s when the first movie came out. Ariana Grande comes down from a bubble the same way the first good witch does in Wizard of Oz. In the start, you also see children running around announcing the witch’s demise and you can hear someone whisper ‘follow the yellow brick road’. In fact we finally get insight into how the yellow brick road came into existence in the first place. In the books, the good witch gives Dorothy silver heels but in the 1930s film, it was changed to red.

But Wicked stays true to the books and you see her wearing silver heels which is actually what Nessa was gifted by her father. If you see the heels closely, you can see a tornado shape, which is how Dorothy came into Oz land. When Elphie saved the lion cub, it's an ode to the previous film when the witch takes Dorothy’s puppy and keeps it in the back of a cycle. Even people’s silhouettes in this film are easter eggs and there are cameos you won’t expect. Elphie gets her hat from Glinda and her broomstick in the end through a spell and that’s how that quintessential wicked witch look that is pasted in our brains comes to life. These references are what make you super nostalgic but also make you anticipate a part two.

When Wicked was announced I wasn’t very sure why this movie needed two parts but after having seen this film, I get why the director decided to do that. This is not a story that can be cut down to two hours. There have to be two acts so each character and each song gets its own light to shine. Wicked Part 1 will stay in our minds for a long time and I cannot wait to see what Part 2 has in store for us. 

Wicked Part 1 is currently playing at a theater near you!

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