Wicked: Was It Worth The Hype?

Yes. Yes, it was.

Wicked, the recent movie adaptation of the famous 2003 musical, has received an overwhelming amount of media attention, both positive and negative. In fact, a shocking number of controversies surrounded the film way before it came out less than a week ago.

There was the cheating/homewrecking situation on the parts of Ariana Grande and fellow Broadway star Ethan Slater. Though they are now openly dating, neither actor has really commented on this affair, as there’s really no way to do so without sounding like an absolute villain in the eyes of the public—smart move on their parts, I suppose.

There was the Cynthia Erivo movie poster drama, where a fan edited the movie poster to look akin to the poster for the original play, which Erivo claimed to be the “most offensive thing” she’s ever seen; she later reflected on the situation, stating maybe she should have called a friend first.

And now there’s been the sappy, overly emotional interviews from Erivo and Grande that the Internet has been poking a lot of fun at lately. We’ve definitely been holding space for that.

The movie poster scandal and the lead ladies’ sobbing/hand-holding during interviews can mostly be passed off as just silly, funny celebrity drama; the father of a newborn baby leaving the kid and his wife (of ten years) for a both knowing and complicit Ariana Grande, however, is a more serious, less funny conundrum. Also more serious are concerns about the health of the two lead actresses, who have been noted by many to appear as of late to look quite thin—to some, concerningly so.

Alas, we’re not here to talk about the controversies surrounding Wicked; that’s a different article on its own. We’re here to talk about the movie itself. And all drama aside—it was absolutely fantastic.

I wasn’t super worried about not loving this film, honestly. I’m a huge fan of the play, and it was clear so much time and effort were being put into this film to do justice to the original material as much as possible. And this movie did exactly that.

The music was gorgeously covered, and Erivo and Grande singing everything live was both boldly incredible and very necessary, I think, as a tribute to the show. The performances and choreography were also incredible and Broadway-level impressive. The characters do not lose their charm; they are just as magical and whimsical on a screen as they are in real life.

And the detail. Visually, even if you don’t care about Wicked or musicals as many do not, it’s a stunning film. You feel completely immersed into this colorful world. The movie even made several plot points much more understandable and emotionally powerful for new viewers by taking time with some of the scenes and expanding them just the right amount; the dance scene is one example of this (hey—yeah, I cried), and Fiyero and Elphaba releasing the lion cub into the wild is another. I really appreciated the attention to detail in the film, as well as the passion the cast seemed to have for devoting themselves to their roles.

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t super familiar with Cynthia Erivo before this film. I was aware she was a Broadway star, but I knew her only from The Color Purple soundtrack. She has phenomenal songs on there; the classic I’m Here always gets me in particular. But I’d never committed myself to looking further into her particularly or listening to her discography.

That being said, I should have, and I absolutely will.

Erivo absolutely oozes star power in this role. Her acting was incredibly powerful and convincing. She looked so, so beautiful; the outfits were right, the shoes were right, the nails were right. The hair was absolutely gorgeous; I loved the decision by Erivo to give Elphaba micro braids. I have no clue how long they took to do, but they looked great. And her voice—my goodness. I was rendered speechless by the end of The Wizard and I, and I remained so for the rest of the movie. Her raw capability and talent awed me. I will have her rendition of Defying Gravity on repeat for the next month, at least.

Unfortunately, I do have to touch on this a little bit:

As much as I try to ignore the racist yapping by a bunch of pathetic fools whenever a person of color is chosen for a role of significance in a movie, I did hear quite a bit of it, especially when the casting was first announced. It’s nothing new. Only recently, we heard it with Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid (and she sure shut them up with her incredible performance), and we heard it with Rachel Zegler as Snow White, coming out next year. And in this case, it’s an especially heinous argument, because whoever the actress is, she’s going to be green. Morons.

Let me be frank: Cynthia Erivo is a once in a lifetime talent. She is anything but a “DEI hire”, and there isn’t a white woman on earth who could have done a better job as Elphaba in this movie. Of that, no one can change my mind.

I say all this to make the point that there was something very special in casting a Black woman as Elphaba, someone who is made to feel strange and ousted and less than due to the color of her skin. It made songs like Defying Gravity and I’m Not That Girl so much more emotional through that lens. It just felt right, and it was beautiful to see.

Anyway—I love Cynthia Erivo, and I will be obsessing and catching up on all her work, probably as you read this.

Ariana Grande’s Glinda was amazing as well! She was so cute, so funny, and so, so vocally impressive. She wears her references on her sleeves throughout the film, being very evidently inspired by original Glinda actress Kristin Chenoweth, but she also does a great job making the character her own. And the singing blew me away. We all know Ariana can sing. But Ariana can sing, and she reminded us all of that with this movie.

I think many people underestimated Ariana’s abilities before the movie came out, perhaps thinking her unable to compete on the level of Broadway stars. As a pop star, even with a short Broadway past herself, these sorts of underestimations come with the territory, unfortunately. But I think I am accurate in saying she proved everyone wrong. She was phenomenal in this role. And her acting was superb as well! Just her acting in No One Mourns The Wicked alone had me crying like a baby. She conveys so much emotion with just her face and her gorgeous voice.

Of course, she also looked stunning. Her costumes and hair were so colorful, cute, and fun. I nearly cried seeing her come down during the first song, looking like an absolute princess. I felt so happy for her, getting to pursue her dream role.

Erivo and Grande had such amazing chemistry. I loved the glimpses of the women behind the characters that we get through little quirks in their acting, like Grande’s little riff at the beginning of Popular, or Erivo’s wink before Defying Gravity. These women know who they are, and they know who their characters are, and you can feel the love they have for their characters and for the play.

Last but not least—spoiler alert—seeing Idina and Kristin make an appearance and pass on the torch to Cynthia and Ariana during One Short Day made me so emotional. It was such a beautiful addition to the film.

Go watch Wicked, everyone. You won’t regret it. 💚🧹