A Mini and Wicked Review
Originally published November 23. 2024
I have never been into Wicked, I won’t lie. I love musicals, I really do. I love musicals and I strongly believe that everything Ariana Grande touches turns to gold, but, I’ve never cared about Wicked. I don’t know why; I’ve just never taken the time of my day to press play on “No One Mourns the Wicked.”
That’s going to change IMMEDIATELY.
I took my cousin to see Wicked last night, and while I’m not a fan of the original soundtrack, I at least knew to dress up in pink and green (I wore green, she wore pink, more on that later). We bought dinner and packed it into our pockets and sat down in a packed movie theater, a sea of pink dressed and even a witch hat or two. Opening night was the best day to go- the energy and excitement could be felt through the cinema doors.
I went into this movie fully blind. I knew four things.
For some reason it’s Galinda (with a Ga!).
Elphaba and Galinda are friends!
It’s an alternate universe, I think?
This is part one of two parts.
So, the movie opens. Immediately, I know it’s going to be a visually stunning movie. It starts with the most festive celebration in Munchkinland because at this point in the timeline, the Wicked Witch has just been killed by Dorothy. Everyone is celebrating, including Galinda- or Glinda already, I suppose. One thing about me, I ride or die for Ariana Grande. I am a proud Arianator, although she and I both think that’s the worst fandom name. I love Ari, but I had no idea what she was singing during this opening song. Her whistle tones are in a register only dogs can hear, but she still sounded lovely. The vocals throughout the film were AMAZING all around. Cynthia Erivo: future EGOT winner. Jonathan Bailey: future EGOT winner. Ariana Grande: would be a future EGOT winner if the Grammys didn’t snub her every year.
I had a few main takeaways from the movie. Number one, I am so Galinda-coded, and while I would have called this unfortunate at first, maybe it’s not such a bad thing. She has her good bits about her. Also, I think I would kill for Elphaba. She truly doesn’t deserve anything bad that happens to her. The fact that she blames herself for her sister’s prematurity is heartbreaking. Galinda was the funniest part, she was an unintentional comedic genius. My favorite songs where “The Wizard and I,” “What is this Feeling?” and “Dancing Through Life.” Can I say something, is this a safe space? Yes, it’s my space. okay, I expected more from “Defying Gravity.” It was amazing, yes, but with the way I heard talks about it on the internet, I thought it would be more song-y and less show-y and act-y. The scene of Elphaba with her broom and cape for the first time was the most gorgeous show of mise en scene in the entire movie. Actually, I take it back, the entire “Defying Gravity” scene really put the whole film together and it was beautiful. Galinda not going with her though, that felt off. She was fully ready to jump until she got caught, then it felt like to move the story along and move the song properly, she stayed back. I don’t know.
Overall, I wonder if having a Wicked background would have made me enjoy the movie more or less. I had no emotional attachment to it, so I truly couldn’t gauge whether they kept it it true to the integrity of the original musical. I thought it was visually and aubily gold. It was really amazing. I don’t know much of movies and musicals and how to properly rank or review them. I just know if I liked it, I liked it. And I loved Wicked.
With love, Willianny
