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‘wicked’ review: cynthia erivo and ariana grande make a strong case for hiring legit musical theater talents in captivating screen adaptation.

Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum also star in Jon M. Chu's 'Wizard of Oz'-inspired fantasy, based on the $1.7 billion Broadway blockbuster.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in 'Wicked.'

One criticism leveled at the show when it first appeared was that its overstuffed narrative suffered from bloat. When it was announced that the movie would be a two-part event (Part 2 is scheduled for November 2025), the reaction of many was “Why?” With Part 1 running two hours and 40 minutes, it can’t be accused of defying brevity. (Sorry.) But the screen expansion gives the material more breathing room, yielding rewards especially in terms of intimate character access and poignancy.

The respective casting of those roles — Ariana Grande as the minimally gifted sorcery student who will go on to become Glinda, Good Witch of the North, and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West — is the movie’s winning hand. Their vocals are clear and strong and supple to a degree many of us have learned not to expect after too many movie musicals that cast merely adequate singers and then Auto-Tune them to death.

Grande and Erivo give Stephen Schwartz’s songs — comedy numbers, introspective ballads, power anthems — effortless spontaneity. They help us buy into the intrinsic musical conceit that these characters are bursting into song to express feelings too large for spoken words, not just mouthing lyrics and trilling melodies that someone spent weeks cleaning up in a studio. The decision to record the songs live on set whenever possible is a major plus.

Both actors have deep roots in musical theater, making them skilled at keeping the transitions between dialogue scenes and songs fluid. They fully integrate one part into the other, with none of those awkward moments in which some stars seem to pause and gather themselves, all but announcing, “I’m going to sing for you now.”

Chu’s vibrant world-building is a significant part of that. He works with the ace team of cinematographer Alice Brooks, production designer Nathan Crowley and costume designer Paul Tazewell to create a fully dimensional, immersive fantasy environment.

Visual effects are employed throughout, but unlike with so many films groaning under the weight of CG eyesores, digital technology is used less as a shortcut than as enhancer, or for specific purposes like dropping in talking animal characters and stitching together composite shots. Crowley has worked wonders conjuring the magical world of Oz with large-scale constructions on soundstages and backlots, and the cast’s performances benefit from being in tangible settings rather than stuck in front of green-screen backdrops.

Places like Shiz University, where Galinda, as she’s originally named, and Elphaba are first-year students, or the surrounding woodlands, or Emerald City, where they go to meet “The Great and Powerful Oz” ( Jeff Goldblum , relishing the role’s gloriously hammy showmanship) are rendered with charm and imagination.

The most enchanting creation is arguably Munchkinland, a village of oddly shaped, thatched-roof houses nestled among rolling fields neatly striped with rows of tulips in dazzling shades. So many movies lately look like they were shot through mud-smeared lenses, which makes the luminous color and light of Wicked pleasurable in itself.

The revisionist backstory to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s novel from 1900, begins as it does on stage, with the Oz citizenry celebrating the alleged death of the Wicked Witch of the West — more about which will be revealed in Part 2.

The news is confirmed by Glinda, floating into Munchkinland in a bubble (“It’s good to see me, isn’t it?”), wearing a pink tulle ballgown that’s like a sparkly parfait. It’s the first of many heavenly creations in that shade by Tazewell; there hasn’t been this much pink on a protagonist since Legally Blonde .

One Munchkin asks if it’s true that Glinda and Elphaba were once friends, prompting a jump back to the beginning of the story to ponder its defining question of whether a person is born wicked or has wickedness thrust upon them.

A lot happens before the main title appears, most importantly a recap of Elphaba’s birth. Attended to by her ursine nanny Dulcibear and a goat obstetrician, Elphaba’s entry into the world is greeted with shock. When her father, Governor Thropp (Andy Nyman), sees the baby’s pea green skin he shrieks, “Take it away!” In a clever moment right out of Carrie , Elphaba demonstrates her instinctual powers even as a newborn when surgical instruments go flying up to the ceiling.

It is Nessarose, not Elphaba, who is enrolled at Shiz. But the protective big sister accompanies her on move-in day, and when she perceives a threat to her younger sibling, she involuntarily unleashes a display of menacing witchcraft. Elphaba’s power is observed by Madame Morrible ( Michelle Yeoh ), famed Dean of Sorcery Studies, who insists on enrolling her at Shiz and giving her private tuition.

There’s a distinct Hogwarts vibe to this introductory scene, in which the eccentric cuts of Tazewell’s gender-fluid uniforms look like a lost Thom Browne collection. Glinda’s naturally assumed supremacy is apparent from her attention-grabbing arrival along the waterways in a gondola loaded with pink luggage. She immediately attracts a pair of gossiping sycophants in Pfannee (Bowen Yang) and ShenShen (Bronwyn James), as well as the instant adoration of sweet-natured Munchkin Boq ( Ethan Slater , the discovery of Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants musical), whose affections Glinda will knowingly manipulate.

At the same time, Elphaba is established as a cruelly mocked outcast, her relationship with Glinda starting on a mutually resentful note when they are obliged to share a room. In the fun duet “What Is This Feeling?” the two leads sing of their “unadulterated loathing,” showing screen chemistry that will evolve and deepen as the characters’ bond changes.

While this discrimination subplot is baked into the material, the example of a minority being demonized, silenced and effectively neutralized from society acquires what no doubt was unanticipated relevance in light of the recent election cycle and the hot-button issue of immigration. Americans on both ends of the political spectrum will likely interpret it in their own way — if they see a parallel at all.

Meanwhile, under Mme. Morrible’s seemingly benevolent guidance, Elphaba for the first time starts to think of her “weird quirk” as a talent, not a liability, and begins learning to control her powers. She becomes the underdog in the early stages of a romantic triangle with Glinda — their initial hostility by this time has softened into friendship — and dreamboat student prince Fiyero ( Jonathan Bailey ), who shares his pleasure-seeking credo in “Dancing Through Life.” That exuberant number is performed in the Shiz library, one of Crowley’s many design marvels, with its rotating cylindrical shelving and movable ladders. But Fiyero might not be as shallow and self-absorbed as he seems.

When Elphaba is summoned to meet the Wizard, she insists on Glinda coming with her aboard a gleaming clockwork-powered Emerald City express train, another Crowley stunner. But their experience there, while intensifying Elphaba’s powers, brings crashing disillusionment and prompts decisive action, amplified in Erivo’s knockout delivery of “Defying Gravity.” That signature song closed Act I on stage and occupies the same soaring position in the two-part film.

Holzman and Fox’s screenplay mines plenty of humor from Ozian linguistic peculiarities (“hideousity,” “scandalicious,” “moodified,” etc.) and especially from Glinda’s conceited condescension. Grande, lovely in her biggest movie role to date, enacts that quality with a liberal sprinkling of sugar and appealing comedy instincts. Her dizzy rendition of “Popular” while attempting to give Elphaba a makeover is a delight. But the script also heightens dramatic themes of injustice, persecution and the concept of evil as a useful scapegoating tool.

But Wicked belongs to Erivo. Elphaba was always the meatier part — in the faceoff for best actress in a musical at the 2004 Tonys, original Elphaba Idina Menzel prevailed over Kristin Chenoweth’s Glinda — and the character’s arc carries even more weight in this adaptation.

Or maybe that’s just because Erivo brings such moving personal investment to her performance, a quality that recalls the Tony-winning role that put her on the map, in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple . Her eyes are an expressive window into the character’s lifetime of hurt and exclusion or defiant pride and anger, sometimes spanning that range and more within one scene or song or single line reading. Her Elphaba is an outcast hero worth rooting for.

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'Wicked' review: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande are fantastic as witchy BFFs

As one might say in Oz, “Wicked” is thrillifying in its melodiousness even if overlongical and ponderrific.

Even with a few missteps, it’s easy to get swept up in director Jon M. Chu’s colorful spectacle (★★★ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Friday), adapted from the popular Broadway musical (based on the Gregory Maguire book) and a revelatory prequel to “ The Wizard of Oz .” The song-filled character study of the Wicked Witch of the West’s early years ekes out great performances from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande that’ll wow musical theater kids and old-school “Oz” fans alike. And while it hasn’t been marketed as such, this “Wicked” is the first of a two-part epic that – unlike, say, “Dune” – at least pulls off a truly soaring closing cliffhanger.

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Actually, “Wicked” begins with an ending: The Wicked Witch is no more, melted in a puddle of water, while Dorothy and pals ease on down the Yellow Brick Road. After the well-known events of “The Wizard of Oz,” the Munchkins are celebrating the villain’s death when Glinda the Good Witch (Grande) shows up in a flying bubble and is interrogated about her own connections to the dead baddie.

She explains that the green-skinned menace was named Elphaba (Erivo) and that they went to Shiz University together. Glinda, a self-centered mean girl, almost immediately butts head with the reserved but confident Elphaba, who is tasked to watch over her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) at school. In a tense moment where a faculty member attempts to move Nessarose's wheelchair, a protective Elphaba showcases her considerable (but raw) magical ability, which puts her on the radar of professor Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) as well as sorcerer wannabe Glinda.

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Elphaba and Glinda become roommates and their mutual loathing fuels the lively duet “What Is This Feeling?” But following a couple acts of kindness and a practical joke gone wrong, not to mention a quasi-love triangle with charmingly rogueish Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Elphaba and Glinda grow to be best friends. When Elphaba gets the chance to meet the enigmatic Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, toning down his usual quirkiness), the duo heads to the Emerald City, where Elphaba learns that Oz isn't as great and wonderful as it looks, embraces her power but also makes enemies.

Erivo is often the best part of whatever she’s in, from “Widows” to “ Harriet,” and she stuns in a role that runs a gamut of emotions. Elphaba maintains a smirking facade to hide her inner vulnerability but also revels in what she can do even in the most dangerous of circumstances. (And, hoo boy, she nails the money notes of signature showstopper “Defying Gravity.”) While Grande is known as a singer – and doesn’t disappoint in that area – anyone who watched her kid sitcoms “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat” can attest to her subtle comic timing, which she utilizes in several scenes (and her big number “Popular”) with hair-whipping, doe-eyed zest.

The enchanting pair keeps “Wicked” watchable as many scenes drone on or feel stretched and overcooked. Chu’s movie lasts two hours and 41 minutes – almost the same runtime as the entire Broadway production (with intermission), even though it only covers the stage musical’s first act. You feel it, too, especially in an extended opening bit about the Wicked Witch’s demise and a busy “Defying Gravity” sequence that clocks in at a good 15 minutes. The latter still gets the job done, but some judicious editing would have gone a long way. At the same time, other aspects could have used more depth, such as character development and a key animal rights subplot. (Those monkeys didn’t always fly, FYI.)

“Wicked” does stick mostly to the musical script, maybe for the best considering the show’s protective fandom. There are nifty “Wizard of Oz” Easter eggs, including musical cues and character footwear, and clever dialogue that hints at what’s to come in the story. Plus, Chu really immerses you in the fantasy, with awesome production design, well-choreographed song-and-dance numbers and folks throwing oddball words like “scandalocious” in conversation.

The movie musical is both superfluous and splendiferous, yet it casts a big-hearted spell that you’d have to be wicked not to appreciate at least a little.