“My first time watching the musical, I didn’t know the story, so I was kind of dumbfounded. The Wizard of Oz is such a classic movie, so watching this and having the story completed in a sense, to me it was very cool, so that surpasses me seeing the movie,” said junior Piper Sosnowski.
On November 21, Universal Pictures will release the second and final part of the Wicked movies. Directed by Jon M. Chu and featuring Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the two parts of the movie had a combined budget of $300 million. The first installation, released last November, was an international success, grossing over $750 million worldwide and becoming the highest grossing film adaptation of a Broadway musical.
“I think Wicked is so successful because it started with the backstory of such a popular movie, The Wizard of Oz,” said junior Sydney Strange.
The Wicked stage musical by American composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz is loosely adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation.
The Broadway musical premiered on October 30, 2003, as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz movie, and centers on the rivalry-turned-friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, who are accidental roommates at Shiz University. The musical explores themes of friendship, identity, and the nature of good and evil. Was Elphaba evil from birth simply because she was born with green skin? Similarly, was Glinda destined to be benevolent just because she was born to nobility?
Fans had mixed opinions on the new movie. While some believed the movie was more entertaining than the Broadway musical, others believed the musical was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Junior Patricia Escobedo-Saldivar praised the movie for expanding parts of the musical, “They are able to do a lot more with the characters and the plot and continue to add to it than a Broadway production can… The whole animals not being able to talk thing, I feel like on Broadway, yes, it was talked about, but not nearly as in depth as it felt in the movie.”
The movie highlighted Elphaba’s past with flashbacks to her birth and childhood, including her parents’ reaction to her green skin and her relationship with her sister Nessarose.
“Because you have more time to see Elphaba in the movie, you really follow her story a little bit more, and you feel more bad for her,” said Sosnowski. “I think in the movie they have a little bit of room to go deeper into each of the characters’ stories, especially Elphaba… You can humanize her a little bit and understand her a little bit more.”
Unlike musicals, which are live and inevitably full of human error, movies are recorded and edited to perfection, and they can run much longer than musicals. This advantage provides room for directors to add flashbacks or background information that fleshes out the characters and fills out plot holes. Movie tickets are also much cheaper than Broadway tickets, since audience members don’t get to see professionals perform live.
“I think it being a movie format is just a little bit more accessible to people, because not a lot of people can afford to go to shows. But seeing it in a movie format is just a different kind of way to be exposed to the magic that is Wicked,” said Sosnowski.
Despite the context and affordability of the movie, many fans connected more with the Broadway musical.
“I personally like the musical better because I loved being able to see it all performed live and in front of me,” said Strange.
Live performance is irreplaceable, no matter how many edits and new characters are added to movies. Emotions are easier to feel, and audience members feel more immersed in the story.
“With the Broadway show, you can feel a lot more emotion and stronger connection between the audience and the actors because you’re all in a room together,” said Escobedo-Saldivar. “I think it adds another layer of feeling and love for a certain movie. You’re able to fully be immersed in the experience and feel like you’re honestly in the movie.”
Since the Broadway production came first, many fans stayed loyal to the original plot without all the flashbacks that were in the movie.
“The things that they added went deeper into the story and were able to add character and add more background,” explained Escobedo-Salvidar. “But I think to an extent it starts to change the story or add a different layer that maybe could change something down the road. And so to a certain extent, it weakened the plotline of Wicked, but I wouldn’t say that it weakened the movie.”
Whether they preferred the original musical or the recent movie, Wicked fans look forward to going to theaters this November.
“I’m a little bit cautious, cause sometimes movies don’t always pan out in the sequel, but I’m just really excited to see it come to fruition and to go see it with my friends,” said Sosnowski.
