Wicked: Part 1
When Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the Wicked Witch of the West, dies and the munchkins of Munchkin land are rejoicing, Glinda The Good Witch, AKA Galinda (Ariana Grande) descends in a bubble to confirm the news; it’s then revealed that Galinda and Elphaba were once good friends. Recounting how the two met, grew close, and broke apart while a great disturbance in the land of Oz was on the rise, the untold story of Elphaba and what she truly stood for is set to unfold. Based on the wildly successful Broadway Hit and Directed by Jon M. Chu this fantastical and magical trip to Oz has finally peaked after what feels like a metric ton of marketing and advertising, and, to be blunt, the hype is real. Packed with now iconic hits including Popular, What is This Feeling, and Defying Gravity, leads Erivo and Grande turn on the power and crank their vocals to eleven to illicit sing along action from the audience and actual applause at the end of each number, meanwhile, further cast support from Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater fill out the front line and deliver fitting performances. With solid production design, costuming, well thought out choreography, and further digital support the land of Oz feels strangely palpable and still full of whimsy. On a critical note, the film is a beast in terms of runtime, at two hours and forty minutes, and this is just part 1, the whole experience does drag in a few points and could have been assisted from a heavier editor’s knife, regardless, the fun abounds and the magic continues. Wicked: Part 1 is rated PG.