Published Work Review: Wicked, Part 1 (2024)
Everyone's talking about it, so I gotta add my two cents! Let's talk *dramaturgy*
When I was eleven years old my mother took me down to Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center to see one of my first ever professional musicals— the national tour of Wicked. I remember purposefully not listening to the music because I wanted to be surprised during the show. Despite some less than appropriate actions from the other adults who came with us on this adventure, I had the absolute best time. I had already been a certified Theatre Kid for six years at that point, and this experience only kicked things into hyperdrive. I bought the songbook for Wicked so I could sing the songs in my voice lessons; my mother and I listened to the album in the car constantly; and eventually, this lead me to discover more modern musicals. To this point, I really only knew musicals that I personally had been in a production of. But now, I discovered Mamma Mia, Rent, Les Miserables, Legally Blonde, and more.
Essentially, Wicked was a catalyst for me to delve even deeper into the world of theatre. Around this same time is when I began my career as a student at Pittsburgh Musical Theater, doing at least three shows a year in some capacity. I had always known since the age of five that I was going to be in theater professionally in some way, but eleven is when I really started reaching for it.
So, needless to say, Wicked has a special place in my heart. And I’m not the only one.
Before the reviews started to roll in, I was afraid that this movie translation of the famed stage show would be deeply terrible (see: Cats (2019) or Dear Evan Hansen (2021)). Luckily, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite my “meh” feelings about a couple of the cast members, I left the theater feeling absolutely elated.
So, what worked in this interpretation? What has theater kids across the world going absolutely feral?
Let’s talk about it.
The Wonderful World of Oz
The stage version of Wicked has a running time of approximately 2.5 hours (without intermission), and a loooot of information is shoved into the audience’s brain in that time frame. “No One Mourns the Wicked”, the opening number, rushes to tell us all about this version of Oz that isn’t seen in the source material (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, just in case you’re unaware) as well as introducing Elphaba’s backstory. If one is unprepared, coming into the show completely in the dark, it can be intimidating. The show continues doing this throughout, somehow without getting too exposition-y, with fast pacing that hurtles the audience towards intermission.
Wicked, Part 1 (2024) covers just the first act of the musical, and yet it has a running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes…ten minutes more that the run time of the entire stage production! Going in, I was afraid that this was nothing more than a money making ploy to draw audiences in not just for one movie, but two. However this is, in my opinion, actually a result of changing the pacing of the story to better fit the medium of film. When the artists involved are not forced to tell the whole story within three-ish hours, they are given the opportunity to let the story breathe, to explain things in greater detail, and to find nuances that the stage show simply doesn’t have the time to discover. My mother, who hasn’t seen the stage production since we saw it together 17 years ago (YIKES I feel old—), said that she felt like she followed a lot more of the story, and I agreed.
As I just stated, this space allows us as the audience more time to notice and be told more detail about the world of the story. For example, more space is given to tell the story of the Animals of Oz (through dialogue as well as set design)— how they differ from animals, what their role in society used to be, and what it is now. This is really important when we look at the connection Elphaba feels to the Animals, as they are both excluded and looked down upon. It also lends a lot to the thematic content of this version, which we will come back to.
The set design of this film is also absolutely gorgeous. During the beginning of the “Dancing Through Life” sequence, I had a moment where I realized, “Oh my god, a lot of this is practical set and effects, not CGI!”. There are recurring symbols and patterns through the architecture and styling of the sets we see throughout the world of Oz, such as circular and geometric motifs juxtaposed with sharp angles; rich, saturated colors (an homage to the Technicolor of the source material); and “old world” European feeling stonework and canals. These little things all add up to create an atmosphere that is uniquely Ozian, that hints at both the real magic as well as the façade beneath the surface (@ the Wizard).
Fascism, Racism, and Queerness, oh my!
As a child seeing Wicked, I of course did not realize the political nature of it. But now, after the year we’ve had in America, it was impossible to ignore. The story is inherently political— Elphaba is an Animal rights activist for goodness sake! On top of that, Elphaba experiences blatant racism at every turn (which is honestly one reason why I appreciated the casting of Cynthia Erivo). It also becomes clear very quickly once Elphaba meets the Wizard that he is hell bent on becoming a fascist dictator, even stating, “The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.”.
It’s all very alarming when you look at it.
Let’s start with the fascist elephant in the room. Not only is the quote given above alarming in its accuracy, it lets the audience in on the Wizard’s line of thinking. At this point, we are slowly becoming aware that the Wizard cannot actually do any magic—that he wears a mask of power that he can’t back up. That’s why he is so interested in Elphaba. And so, to remain in power, he must find a concrete way to assert control over the people. He chooses to do this by making the Animals an enemy, guiding Ozians to be angry at them instead of taking a closer look at him. The Wizard would also, ideally, have Elphaba to magically back him up on this. But our Elphie has a conscience hard as steel, and she won’t compromise on her morals.
And so, the Wizard makes her the collective enemy, too.
It’s not hard for him to do this, due to the aforementioned racism. From birth, Elphaba is shunned due to the green color of her skin. She is assumed to be evil and disgusting, even by her own father. When Elphaba first goes to Shiz, she is naturally on the defense, ready with answers to frequently asked questions: “No, I’m not seasick; no, I didn’t eat grass as a child; and yes, I’ve always been green.” Glinda (Galinda at the time) participates in this discrimination as well, though she does so under the guise of kindness, stating that she plans to major in sorcery and offers to “fix” Elphaba’s skin. Elphaba is quick to point out how ridiculous this is, a girl offering to do something she does not have the skills to do.
Micro-aggressions towards Elphaba continue throughout the movie, even after she gains a sort of acceptance through her friendship with Glinda. It’s clear that “regular” Ozians will never see Elphaba as one of them, no matter what, all because of a feature she cannot control. If that’s not racism, I don’t know what is.
But this line of thinking is common among all those -isms and -phobias and such: racism, misogyny, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc. And, unfortunately, Elphaba is not only othered by her skin.
If you are familiar with the source material of this musical, Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, then you know that Elphaba and Glinda are fairly explicitly, well, gay for each other. They kiss for god’s sake! This was taken out of the original stage musical, probably in an effort to make it more “family friendly” for a mid-2000s audience, but the movie seems to be taking a slightly different approach. It is not hard to see the queer reading of Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship, starting with “What Is This Feeling?” and ending with the heart-wrenching conclusion of “Defying Gravity”.
I could write a whole piece simply on this, so instead I will leave you with one example from my brain and a video essay recommendation on the topic.
Let’s start at the beginning with “What Is This Feeling?”. The lyrics begin: “What is this feeling so sudden an new?/I felt the moment I laid eyes on you/My pulse is rushing/My head is reeling/My face is flushing/What is this feeling?” I don’t know about you guys, but…that sounds like a crush to me. Racing heart? Blushing? Confusion? Yeaaahhh…this has all the markings of, “I definitely don’t like women! I must just hate this bitch! Yeah that makes sense!”. Not to mention the chemistry that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have. On top of this, Glinda isn’t really into Fiyero…she’s into what he represents. Take a look at the train scene right before Elphaba is supposed to leave for the Emerald City: Glinda discusses her relationship, and she doesn’t seem emotionally distressed by Fiyero’s change in behavior, just annoyed.
Once again, I could write a whole essay just on this, so I’ll leave it at that. If you’re interested in this topic, I will have a video suggestion for you down below!
Final Thoughts
I loved this movie, and honestly, I would have more coherent thoughts if I could see it one more time. There were so many layers not only in the sets and music choices, but in the acting choices and cinematography. I won’t ramble on longer than I have already, but needless to say I think this is the most successful movie adaptation of a musical in a veeeery long time.
If you want to hear more analysis of Wicked, whether it’s about the movie, musical, or even the book, check out my video essay recs below!
Leena Norms, “An unhinged deep dive on Wicked’s biggest plot hole.”
matt bernstein, “Is Glinda Good?”
Amanda the Jedi, “I Was Wrong About Wicked”
Savy Writes Books, “Wicked is a Lesbian Love Story”
Have you seen the Wicked movie? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Have a play, a book, or other piece of theatrical media you want me to write about? Let me know by replying to this newsletter via email or messaging me on the SubStack app!
Happy writing (and reading)!
~Brynn