The Wizard of Oz is a story that has been told through many different lenses — from the first movie adaptation released in 1939, the original storybook written in 1900 and more modern film versions such as Of Oz the Wizard.
Most recently, director Jon M. Chu premiered the movie Wicked, the story of Oz told through the eyes of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West—your typical villain turned anti-hero type of story. The film was adapted from the musical Wicked, containing the same soundtrack and plot structure.
The Wicked experience starts from the moment you enter the theatre. As the lights dim and the music swells, it presents its whimsical story to the audience in a burst of pinks and blues, showering them in the fantastical settings and colours found in this magical world.
The movie cost Universal Pictures a total of 150 million dollars to make, with a sizeable portion of the budget dedicated to grand-scale computer generated images (CGI), which can cost upwards
of $1,500 dollars per minute of screen time.
“As an avid musical and movie lover, the movie Wicked was a perfect adaptation of the original broadway musical,” said first year Alana Tavoularis, a biology major at Wilfrid Laurier University.
“The visuals were stunning, and the live performances of the songs during filming added to the incred- ible storytelling. I love the beautiful and complex relationship between Elphaba and Glinda that is the anchor of this story,” she said.
Starring Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the two actresses were given the heavy task of covering the soundtrack of a well-renowned musical.
Released in 2003, Wicked: The Musical ran on broadway for nearly 20 years. Performances continued
until ticket sales begin to decline, meaning Wicked has been dazzling audiences for decades.
What really makes the film version so special, then?
At first, this movie may seem like just another attempt to reinvent the wheel, another unnecessary rewrite of an existing film. However, Wicked is a film created with an obvious and intense love for its predecessors.
Chu approached this film with sincere passion, dedicating meticulous effort to ensure the story remains loyal and accurate to its source. Wicked re-inspires the viewer to believe in the film industry once again.
For too long, audiences have endured movies clearly made solely for profit, remakes of beloved films or retellings of familiar stories designed to pull viewers in for 90-minute intervals of mediocre cinema.
Wicked changes that narrative, telling its story in a beautiful and powerful way. It compels its new audience— and even more so those who are deeply familiar with the musical— to delight in the niche world of musical theatre.
Wicked presents its world to audiences through a series of grand-scale musical performances, filled to the brim with colour and choreography. Eleven songs were performed in the first act, with eight more to come in the second, set to release in 2025.
The musical talents of Grande and Erivo greatly impressed and dazzled the approximately 65 million people across 16 countries who have seen the film so far. Rather than being simplified for mass audiences, the singing is still true to the larger-than-life, exaggerated sound of musical theatre, bringing the necessary magic into every aspect of the film—even the music.
Wicked is sure to revitalize a new era of the Hollywood film industry, proving to producers that audiences appreciate movies created with thought and passion—and that kind of cinema will be heavily rewarded.
Contributed Photo/Universal Pictures on Youtube
