By Seth Lukas Hynes
Wicked
Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Michelle Yeoh
Rated PG
3.75/5
Directed by Jon Chu and based on the hit stage musical of the same name, Wicked is a magical experience driven by two exceptional central performances.
In this prequel to the Wizard of Oz, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a woman born with green skin and magical gifts, enrols in Shiz University and locks horns with fellow student Galinda (Ariana Grande).
Wicked features vibrant art direction and plenty of joy, pageantry and lively musical numbers.
Erivo is a magnetic lead, conveying incredible dignity as a dedicated, compassionate woman rising above the stigma of her skin and the scorn of her classmates. Grande is her perfect frenemy counterpart: sweet
and bubbly on the surface and a vain, bossy suck-up beneath.
A popular fan theory about the 1939 Wizard of Oz film asserts that Galinda/Glinda manipulated Dorothy into killing the Wicked Witch to gain control over all of Oz, and Galinda being Wicked’s Mean Girls-esque antagonist for the first act amusingly lends some weight to this theory.
Wicked’s narrative doesn’t accomplish much dramatically in this first half (with Wicked: Part 2 coming out in November next year), but Elphaba and Galinda’s steady journey from enemies to best friends provides a satisfying foundation.
At 160 minutes, Wicked is too long, and beyond Elphaba and Galinda, the characters are somewhat thinly-sketched. Elphaba and Galinda finally drop their feud in a bizarre scene that contains some of the
daggiest dancing since Raygun at the Olympics, and the plot draws a clumsy parallel between the people of Oz discriminating against Elphaba for being green and prejudice against the land’s talking animals.
Playing in most Victorian cinemas, Wicked is mostly song-and-dance set-up, but still an endearing, energetic and stunning ride.
