Wicked (2024)

November 26, 2024 1:09 PM

Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda, a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads.
posted by BuddhaInABucket (22 comments total)

Is it better than the other prequel?
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:42 PM on November 26 [1 favorite]

Which other prequel?
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 4:01 PM on November 26

I assume Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon is referring to Oz the Great and Powerful from 2013, but I am prepared to be told that I am wrong about this.

My general thought on the matter is that Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz to roughly the same degree that Black Sails is a prequel to Muppet Treasure Island, which is to say there are a bunch of characters with the same names and the stories somewhat lead from one into the other but I would not expect much tonal fidelity between the two.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 4:34 PM on November 26 [9 favorites]

Muppet Treasure Island certainly features more nudity.
posted by td2x10e3 at 6:36 PM on November 26 [3 favorites]

i wanted them to kiss so badly (i mean I'd hope they'd kiss well when they did kiss but they did not kiss)
posted by kokaku at 7:31 PM on November 26

I may be well actuallying here, but just in case it's not widely known: Wicked is an adaptation of this book by Gregory Maguire, which is an adult novel playing with the characters and world of Oz. Totally different in tone and intent than either the original L. Frank Baum books or the various cash-grab movies.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:14 AM on November 27 [9 favorites]

Thank you, restless_nomad. I had not heard of that book.

I am not big into musicals, but I enjoy some of them! I have not seen any version of Wicked, stage or screen. Wicked has been so enormously popular; but I cannot think of a single tune from the show that broke out as a hit. Seems odd... most musicals with this kind of lasting popularity end up with at least one song that becomes well known outside of the show.
posted by SoberHighland at 7:41 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

Uh. Defying Gravity made it onto Glee as a pretty significant character development moment.
posted by emkelley at 8:06 AM on November 27 [4 favorites]

There’s no surer sign that a person knows no gay men than never having heard Defying Gravity ad nauseum. (Just playing, SoberHighland).

This gay man thought the movie was basically as perfect as it could have been. The singing, acting, casting, costumes, sets, dancing, cinematography… spectacular!
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:39 AM on November 27 [3 favorites]

I’ll add that it should be against the law for a movie to be this long without a 5 minute bathroom break, though.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:40 AM on November 27 [3 favorites]

To be fair, right after Defying Gravity is where the bathroom break is in the stage production.

(Went to see it on Broadway as my wife's college graduation gift - that was amazing.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:18 AM on November 27

Wicked is one of my favorite books, and I was a bit bemused when it was turned into a musical many years ago. I did get to see it a while back and enjoyed it, but definitely very different from the book. And the casting of 30-something women in roles meant for teenage girls will always feel like a misstep to me, regardless of how talented the actors are. In addition to other thems, the book is very much a story of teens getting a rather harsh lesson on how the world works; harder to buy when watching fully adult women.

What's funny to me is seeing tiktoks with people warning parents that Wicked the book is not really suitable for young readers, like for the folks thinking they'll get their 10-year-old Wicked-the-musical fanatic the book as a gift is maybe...not a great idea.
posted by Molasses808 at 9:54 AM on November 27 [3 favorites]

I assume Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon is referring to Oz the Great and Powerful from 2013, but I am prepared to be told that I am wrong about this.

That was the one. I actually didn't hate it as much as most. It was OK.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:04 PM on November 27

What's funny to me is seeing tiktoks

That is weird. He's not really a part of the first Oz installment in any medium.
posted by LionIndex at 5:06 PM on November 27 [16 favorites]

Well, I just saw it and really liked it. For this long of a movie, it didn't drag at all, even if I still think it's ridiculous to have two parts. It's beautiful to watch, love the costumes. Love Fiyero most, I think, and the "Dancing Through Life" sequence in the circular library with the dancing is fucking amazing, and I want to go to the Ozdust ballroom. Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh are excellent at what they do, and the girls made me root for them.

When Elphaba called Fiyero out on being unhappy and he was dumbstruck...my, my. And he heroically immediately ran to save the cub, awwww.

I am, however, "Boq? Why is this guy here?" I read the book/saw the musical long ago and I don't even remember that guy, so every time he popped up I was all, "why?" Also, looking at him and looking at Ariana and thinking, "In real life those two left marriages for each other," and I'm still all....why? Really? THAT pairing?
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:58 PM on November 29

To be fair, right after Defying Gravity is where the bathroom break is in the stage production.

The stage production, intermission included, runs two hours and forty five minutes.

The film runs two hours and forty minutes.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:17 PM on November 29 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I read part of the book around the time it was published, but kind of stalled out partway through as I wasn't finding it particularly compelling. I think the stage musical is a delight, however. When I heard a film adaptation was coming out, I was tentatively interested but when I heard it was going to become two entire movies, I was somewhat taken aback because that is a LOT of additional content they have to extend that into.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:48 AM on November 30 [1 favorite]

I was concerned about the two-parts of it all, but having finally seen it yesterday, I think they made the right call. I think a film necessitates slowing things down a little - and this film let's the first act breathe. (I saw the stage show again earlier this year and it flies by so fast! That's not a complaint, but there is definitely good reason to slow things down.) The film teases out some ideas and a sequence like Dancing Through Life which, on stage, is a single number that dovetails into the Ozdust Ballroom scene, is broken down into distinct segments in the film. It hits all the emotional beats and lets the audience feel them before moving on.

It doesn't really feel like padding it out, though. There is one new song, which is dropped into the One Short Day/Oz sequence and it feels essential - or worthy of being there for several reasons, which I won't spoil. And there are other segments of the film, like Elphaba's childhood, which actually draws in more detail from the Maguire novel.

I never felt the length of it was a problem. Chu knows how to stage a musical number. Some of it might have been a bit overwrought, but some of the changes in tone and inflection (line readings, additional flourishes in the singing) really hit the nail on the head.

Hell of a month to release a film about fascism, too.
posted by crossoverman at 3:16 PM on December 1 [5 favorites]

I went in concerned... movies of musicals tend to not live up to expectations. Had seen the Broadway show (with the original cast), read the book (barely, it was a slog). Read nothing about this past it was a part 1 and what came up for the fan-edited poster controversy.

Length was not an issue. Sometimes a three hour movie seems longer (Marvel, we're looking at you.) This was not like that. It didn't feel like whole things were added, just embellishments here and there. Like in Popular.

Got concerned that Ariana Grande was doing more of a "playing Kristin Chenoweth playing Glinda" than actually playing Glinda. Realized pretty quickly that no, that's just how the character is. From there on out, settled in and let it go. And it was good.

Avoiding spoilers, the scene crossoverman refers to in the city of Oz was very well done, and while not needed for plot, was important for the fans of the stage show. The Wizard was a perfect casting as well, no notes and I can't think of anyone else for it.

Will probably want to rewatch, there was some foreshadowing I caught and interesting play of pink and green in... well, everywhere.
posted by neilbert at 6:38 PM on December 1 [2 favorites]

I had forgotten so much of the show, which I saw 11 years ago. Thought the casting of every part was great, but Cynthia Erivo was particularly amazing. Her expressions were so powerful.

I enjoyed the scenery, costumes and music, although I thought Popular was over edited, with way too many cuts. After the first scene, which dragged, it mostly moved right along.
posted by Sukey Says at 8:17 PM on December 8

It's probably pretty telling that everyone keeps asking, "Have you seen Wicked yet?!" at me. Haven't had that socially go on since Barbie.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:37 AM on December 9 [1 favorite]

The stage show incubated a huge audience for this, it's very well done by people who are clearly huge fans of the stage show, plus the sets and colouring pay respects to the Technicolor masterpiece of the MGM film. Stephen Shwartz's musuc weaves themes and motifs throughout (even hiding the first 7 notes of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in the Unlimited motif) and it's thorough earworm territory.
posted by k3ninho at 6:02 PM on December 11