This text accommodates spoilers for the film “Wicked.”
“To be continued.”
“Wicked” ends with these three phrases, leaving audiences to attend a 12 months for decision. And with a projected opening weekend home field workplace haul of $120 million, that provides as much as fairly a little bit of endurance.
Till then, there’s a lot to debate about Common’s bold adaptation of the blockbuster stage present, particularly its extra narratively daring moments — doubtless affecting each religious fan and informal “Wizard of Oz” aficionados. So whether or not you left the theater crying or confused, The Occasions is right here to share some readability on “Wicked.”
Director Jon M. Chu with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the set of “Wicked.”
(Giles Keyte / Common Photos)
Why is ‘Wicked’ break up into two films?
Whereas not unusual for fantasy flicks and sci-fi entries, it’s by no means been accomplished earlier than with the movie adaptation of a stage musical. And this one specifically — primarily based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which pulls from Frank L. Baum’s 1900 fantasy novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and the 1939 movie adaptation — “comes heaped high with a century’s worth of heritage, in the traditions of literature, screen and stage, plus the massive expectations that come with that,” wrote Katie Walsh in her evaluation.
After months of detailed discussions between director Jon M. Chu, composer Stephen Schwartz and e book author Winnie Holzman about probably sacrificing songs or subplots, “it became very clear that you cannot tell this story in one movie, and if you did, you’d have to literally transform it into something very different, and that’s not something I was interested in doing,” Chu informed The Occasions.
Whereas break up on the stage present’s intermission level, “these are two movies with integrity, and they can stand on their own,” stated Holzman. And in response to producer Marc Platt, every act — and subsequently, every movie — has a perspective that’s distinct to the witches performed by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
“‘Wicked’ is very much about the human experience — having preconceived notions, seeing the world a different way and changing your point of view,” he stated. “Yes, this is the story of two girls, but the motor of the first film is really Elphaba’s journey of how she finds her voice to speak truth to power. And the second film is very much Glinda coming to see the world differently and changing in her way. Once we laid it out emotionally and narratively, and committed to it, things really fell in place.”
Ariana Grande is Glinda in “Wicked.”
(Giles Keyte / Common Photos)
The film’s operating time is so long as the stage present however solely tells half the story. What adjustments have been produced from stage to display screen?
Current musical variations have included rethought subplots or freshly written songs (typically leading to misguided trims). However longtime “Wicked” followers will discover that the film doesn’t drastically shoehorn any a part of the narrative. As a substitute, it thoughtfully elaborates on the stage present, which opened on Broadway in 2003.
New scenes higher cement some character dynamics, like when Elphaba and Glinda first meet of their shared dorm room. “When we were first writing the show, we wrote 30 versions of that scene before ‘What Is This Feeling?’” stated Schwartz. “Ultimately, we just didn’t have the time.”
The identical is true when the 2 finest associates first come face-to-face with the Great Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). “There’s so much more time that he can take to delicately win them over and bring them into his world, and you get to see the girls get really won over by him,” stated Holzman.
The introduction to Elphaba as a baby, shunned by different children and scorned by her father, was additionally deserted within the making of the stage present, stated Holzman: “To do that onstage is a whole thing, she’d be painted green for a one-minute-long part! But film is the perfect medium to finally do it.”
The film additionally options a couple of barely sharpened characters — a extra impartial Nessarose (Marissa Bode), a seemingly extra maternal Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) as “the mother Elphaba always wanted and never had,” stated Platt — and a variety of new jokes, a lot of which have been improvised by the forged. Plus, an prolonged “One Short Day” part explains the Wizard’s magical skills, full with cameos from unique stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, in addition to creators Schwartz and Holzman.
“It felt like we let the story and the characters breathe,” stated Schwartz, who wrote a brand new music that didn’t make the minimize. That discernment is due to Chu, stated Platt: “Very frequently, Jon stopped us from changing things or turning them into something else. Because of his love for the material and his great sense of purpose and legacy, he protected us against ourselves.”
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande with director Jon M. Chu on the set of “Wicked.”
(Giles Keyte / Common Photos)
What did that silent ‘Dancing Through Life’ part imply?
One expanded sequence is “Dancing Through Life” — particularly, the part on the Ozdust Ballroom. Elphaba arrives alone, outfitted within the pointy black hat that Glinda has tricked her into carrying, and will get teased by all her classmates as she has been since arriving at Shiz College. However, Elphaba begins to bounce, executing each transfer as a lady boldly and unashamedly herself, even when it means remaining as lonely as ever.
Onstage, these dance strikes are performed for laughs, however “Cynthia came in and said, ‘I’m not a joke,’” Chu recalled of his early discussions with Erivo. “In the stage show, the audience has the same perspective as all the Ozians, but because of all the tools of cinema, we can flip it so the movie is from Elphaba’s perspective. Finding that really locked it in for me.”
Onscreen, the second is deeply shifting, with the sound of laughter muffled and the digital camera zooming in on Elphaba’s tears. Glinda, already feeling dangerous in regards to the hat prank and able to repay Elphaba for placing in phrase about her with the highly effective Madame Morrible, joins her on the dance ground, echoing her actions with tears in her eyes as nicely. With this unstated apology, the scene marks the start of their friendship.
“We’re in a massive musical, and Jon has the bravery to take sound out completely,” stated cinematographer Alice Brooks of the scene. “The heart of the movie is in these very static, still and silent moments, where these two women have nonverbal communication with each other.”
It’s a second meaning so much to Chu, who watched the stage present throughout its pre-Broadway run in San Francisco in 2003, and it’s secure to say it left a handprint on his coronary heart. “I remember sitting in that theater and feeling like it was made for me,” he stated. “Every word speaks to something so much deeper than just a song you hear and know the words to. Making this movie, I wanted people to feel what I felt in that seat.”
Cynthia Erivo performs Elphaba in “Wicked.”
(Giles Keyte / Common Photos)
What occurred throughout that ‘Defying Gravity’ scene?
All the movie builds as much as Elphaba’s signature music, which gloriously closes the primary act onstage with the newly named “Wicked Witch” flying for the primary time. “It doesn’t actually plug all the holes that you need, but we’re rooting for the whole movie for her to do it,” stated Chu of the beloved quantity. “But when we storyboarded it, what we found was, she didn’t earn this flight.”
Due to this fact, “Defying Gravity” is introduced in sections onscreen. After a fiery, action-packed sequence during which flying monkeys chase after Glinda and Elphaba, the 2 discover themselves at a crossroads: Glinda desires to please Madame Morrible and the famend Wizard — even when they do need to forged highly effective spells to ostracize the speaking animals of Oz — whereas Elphaba would somewhat flee the scene than align with these mendacity leaders.
Elphaba asks her finest buddy to come back along with her, however Glinda silently decides to not, as an alternative handing her a black cape to remain heat. Although they’re splitting up, there’s no bitterness between them: “I hope it brings you bliss, I really hope you get it and you don’t live to regret it,” they sing to one another. “I hope you’re happy in the end, I hope you’re happy, my friend.”
Bewitched broom in hand, Elphaba then tries to fly, however as an alternative begins falling straight towards the bottom. “When she jumps out that window, she thinks she’s ready, but she’s not,” defined Chu. “She doesn’t know why she’s doing it. Is this just because she’s angry? Or is it just for vengeance?”
Elphaba then sees the youthful model of herself (Karis Musongole) within the Emerald Metropolis citadel’s reflection. “I’ve known Jon for 25 years, and thematically, there’s always a connection with your younger self that he’s so passionate about,” stated Brooks. “He desperately wants to know what your younger self would say to you.”
As they’re each in freefall, younger Elphaba reaches out to the grownup witch, who reaches again. “It’s that arc of connecting to this person you’ve always been, and discovering that the power and strength you’ve been looking for has always been inside of you,” stated Brooks of the dialogue-free second.
“She grabs that broomstick, flies up and sings, ‘It’s me’ because she’s realized she’s doing it to heal herself and save herself,” added Chu. Elphaba then delivers the ultimate declaration of the music, not simply to Glinda and all of the Ozians who at the moment are looking her down, as accomplished onstage, but in addition to Madame Morrible and the Wizard, who colluded to deceive her.
L to R: Jeff Goldblum is The Wizard of Ouncesand Michelle Yeoh is Madam Morrible in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu
(Giles Keyte / Common Photos)
So what does the ending imply for the second ‘Wicked’ film?
“Part 2” is scheduled for launch Nov. 21, 2025, and a yearlong intermission between movies is becoming — the second film, just like the second act of the stage present, will in all probability start with a time soar. Take into account how “Part 1’s” final scene checks on the opposite characters: Fiyero showing involved by Elphaba’s categorization as “evil” by authorities and leaping into motion, or Madame Morrible lastly embracing Glinda, who’s tried to be within the professor’s good graces however was always eclipsed by Elphaba’s potential.
One factor you’ll be able to rely on is for “Wicked” to confront the Dorothy of all of it. (And her little canine too.)
For his half, Chu, who filmed each components of “Wicked” concurrently, is deep within the strategy of finalizing the edit on “Part 2.” “Last year, I cut both so that I could finish movie one to understand it,” he stated. “I let it go and, just recently, opened it up again.”
By this time subsequent 12 months, followers will doubtless have the ability to refresh their reminiscences with back-to-back screenings of each components in theaters. “I have done it,” stated Chu of his personal “Wicked” marathon. “It is so fun, it is great. I’m excited for everyone to do it.”
