Ivan Radford | On 05, Jan 2025

Director: Jon M Chu
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey
Certificate: PG

How on earth do you bring a musical like Wicked to the screen? The hit stage phenomenon is one of the highest grossing stage shows in history, which brings with it all kinds of expectations. Director Jon M Chu – and writers Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox – brush those off with surprising ease with this first of a two-part adaptation, flying above an already high bar with no worries of Newtonian forces weighing them down.

From the off, there’s a confidence to the spectacle that grabs you and pulls you in – a dizzying introduction turns the familiar overture into a extravagant display of world-building. It’s that commitment to expanding the production to beyond the stage show origins that really makes it work, embracing the show’s theatricality without being restricted by it.

The tale, for whose aren’t familiar, is inspired by the novel of the same name, but carves its own (less disturbing) path. The Wizard of Oz prequel follows Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a green-skinned outcast who accompanies her disabled sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), to Shiz University. When her natural magical abilities are spied by Madame Morrible (the fabulous Michelle Yeoh), Elphaba’s unexpectedly enrolled too, and becomes roommates with the popular, pink-clothed Galinda (Ariana Grande).

There’s no guessing who the pair will grow up to be, and the film’s core is that blossoming friendship of opposites, as their clashing personalities and experiences give way to genuine affection, compassion and support for one another. That ability to find love, respect and resilience in unlikely places is starkly contrasted with a backdrop of prejudice and injustice – not just in the bullying at school, but in the wider land of Oz, where speaking animals are being demonised for their difference.

All this would only work with a convincing cast, and the film is powered by its heartfelt ensemble. Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey is wonderfully charismatic as the seemingly shallow Prince Fiyero, who sympathises with the plight of teachers such as Dr Dillamond (a goat voiced by the ever-avuncular Peter Dinklage), while Jeff Goldblum threatens to steal the whole show as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose recipe for magic is more about fear and control than anything else.

Jon M Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians) is a dab hand at crafting visually innovative set pieces, and he doesn’t disappoint here, from a stunning sequence in the library to Chekhov’s flying monkeys who appear towards the breathtaking finale. But the secret to Wicked’s success is its stellar star pairing of Erivo and Grande. Ariana Grande is a perfect fit for Galinda, building on her remarkable vocal range with a delightful knack for physical comedy. Cynthia Erivo, meanwhile, delivers a tour de force as Elphaba, digging deep into the character’s trauma and sadness but emerging from it with a vocal and emotional strength that would move the most cynical of audience members.

That, of course, climaxes with the inevitable Defying Gravity, and Erivo’s performance of the song makes it entirely her own, assisted by a defiant broom-hopping flourish from Chu. The result is a dazzling, stirring dose of spectacle that leaves you on a high. How on earth do you bring a musical like Wicked to the screen? Quite easily, it turns out. The more pressing question is: how on earth do you follow that with Part Two?

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