‘Wicked’ Review: Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Will Sweep You Off Your Feet in Jon M. Chu’s High-Flying Musical Feast

The Wicked Witch of the West was an icon of cinematic villainy for decades before Gregory Maguire’s 1995 revisionary novel became one of Broadway’s most successful musicals, Wicked. Now, more than 20 years after it landed on stage, Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) directs this big, bright studio musical that is both a faithful adaptation of the theater production and a refreshing update.

Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba, the green-skinned misfit who would eventually become the Wicked Witch. When Elphaba accompanies her younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to Shiz University, she is an outcast. Elphaba and Nessa are the daughters of Munchkinland mayor Fexpar Thropp (Andy Nyman). He shuns his eldest in favor of his perfectly normal-toned, wheelchair bound second child. It is a burden Elphaba has borne her entire life and her unexpected enrollment at the university is at first just another life choice she doesn’t get to make. The other students endlessly mock her. They tease behind her back and to her face. It is only under the private instruction of Madame Morrible (a resplendent Michelle Yeoh), the sorcery professor, that Elphaba finds acceptance and a glimpse of her potential. 

As a character, Maguire’s novel and later the musical gave context and depth to the supposed wicked witch. The film faithfully adapts the Broadway characterization, and Erivo brings her to life in new ways that set her apart from the version immortalized by Idina Menzel. Through Erivo, we experience Elphaba’s pain and frustration. With room to move through sets that feel like a real university and grounds, we see her loneliness in a new way. When she meets with Madame Morrible, we feel her hope and persistence. Erivo is as good an Elphaba as there ever was. Which shouldn’t be surprising, considering she earned an Oscar nomination for Harriet just a year after achieving scene-stealing acclaim for her first film roles in Widows and Bad Times at the El Royale.

Elphaba’s put-upon roommate is Galinda – later Glinda the Good Witch – played by Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande-Butera. Glinda is all charm and perky privilege. Everyone follows every toss of her hair, every swish of a flowy skirt. Everyone but Elphaba, of course. And so Glinda encourages and promotes Elphaba’s ostracism, other classmates cooing over her every whim and laughing at her clever insults. 

Part of Glinda’s ire stems from simple jealousy. Glinda dreams of studying sorcery although she has shown no aptitude for the subject. Along comes Elphaba, a girl who isn’t even enrolled, and becomes an instant favorite of the selective and impossible-to-impress Madame Morrible. But through a little kindness and gritted teeth, the two girls eventually find common ground and then become inseparable best friends.

Ariana Grande-Butera is a force. Early on in her career, her comic timing was evident in Nickelodeon shows Victorious and Sam & Cat. She has continued to develop those skills with small roles in films like Don’t Look Up. Here, Grande embodies a Glinda who is funny and flawed, shallow and silly, but with much more under the surface than anyone might expect. 

It is in Erivo and Grande’s performances specifically where the big screen version of this story separates itself ever so slightly but importantly from the stage. From micro-expressions in close up to a slightly different emphasis on a word, the relationship between Elphie and Glinda feels deeper, more developed, and more lasting. They play so well against and then with each other that you could almost remove every other character and simply enjoy the two of them verbally sparring before their loathing gives way to respect and sisterhood. Glinda might sing the phrase “we’re perfect together” to love interest Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), but it is Erivo and Grande who are perfect together. Their rendition of “What Is This Feeling?,” for example, becomes even more fun when you can see how much these two truly delight in hating each other. By the time they arrive at “Defying Gravity,” you can feel the weight of their pleas to one another. 

That is not to say the rest of the cast is easily tossed aside or should be ignored. Bailey is a charming Fiyero, using all of his Bridgerton swagger in exactly the right ways. He arrives well into the term, a transfer student who has reached the end of the number of schools to be kicked out of. Fiyero is sometimes treated as a throwaway character–the generically hot love interest for two girls to feud over. But this Bailey’s Fiyero will not be so easily dismissed and his “Dancing Through Life,” plays well when accented by talented professional dancers that make the entire scene pop.

Elsewhere in the supporting cast, Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James are fun but a bit underutilized – especially Yang. But they make good use of their time as Glinda’s sidekicks. Ethan Slater is charmingly awkward Boq, an admirer of Glinda’s who turns his attention toward Nessarose, also giving her some shining moments of her own.

Madame Morrible is such a fun, treacherous person and Michelle Yeoh delivers every suspicious look and every disdainful remark with the precision that has served her well in the decades that led to her 2022 Academy Award. She sing-talks her way through her first on-screen singing role and it works because her imperfect musical abilities set her apart and away from the flittering youths around her. Early on, Morrible provides our first hints that not every beautiful, elegant person can be trusted and something sinister is brewing beneath the dazzling surface of Oz.

Jeff Goldblum plays the Wizard of Oz as only Jeff Goldblum could. If it feels similar to his Grandmaster from Thor: Ragnarok, it’s because he essentially plays himself. And that’s why it works. Goldblum has given great performances over his career, but his most memorable are often the ones that feel the most like who he really is. 

Wicked is a visual feast. Paul Tazewell’s costumes help accentuate terrific performances. Soft pink dresses for Glinda are perfect opposites to Elphaba’s sharp corners and precise pleats. Nathan Crowley designs an Oz that feels like one you could – and would want to – step into and stay awhile. It is a Technicolor marvel, a place that could exist over the rainbow. Taking the story from stage to screen meant getting to take the time to design and create Shiz, the Emerald City, and ways to get from one to the next. It can be difficult to capture so many elements of design in a musical where the energy flows and the camera must stay ahead of the action. Cinematographer Alice Brooks enhances every moment and makes it feel epic.

As director, Chu brings every element of craft, story, acting, and singing together to deliver a joyful cinematic experience. He tends to live in a space of music and musicals and has made a name for himself Step Up movies and Crazy Rich Asians, which isn’t a musical but has many of the qualities of one. His first effort at adapting a Broadway show came with 2021’s In the Heights, a mediocre movie that had its moments. Wicked is a throwback to the big studio musicals of yesterday, but with a timeless quality sure to make it a new classic in the years to come. We are already in line for part two.

Grade: A

Universal Pictures will release Wicked only in theaters on November 22.