There is nothing quite so thrilling as a revisionist theory of a well-known story when it works, and no better example of that than WICKED. First a book, then a theatrical musical, it has now made its way to the silver screen giving us The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West. And while that book, play, and now film does not give us the whole story (we are advised in the opening credits that this is Part 1), this prequel does provide us ample food for thought about the characters we thought we knew. Plus, it’s lavish and as visually enticing as a tricked out petit four with a kick of cayenne.
The Wicked Witch is here given a name, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), and a family history that explains her baleful view of the world at large. The daughter of the mayor of Munchinkland, or at least of his wife, she evoked horror at her first appearance with her green skin. Raised by the family’s bear nanny (Sharon D. Clarke) in this magical land where animals not only speak but also have careers, she continued to evoke horror when she lost her temper in telekinetic ways that served to stop the spirited taunting from other children, but further distanced her from the mayor, who doted on Elphaba’s younger sister, Nessarosa (Marissa Bode), a charming young lady confined to a wheelchair.
All this is prelude, and a quick one, to the meat of the story when Nessaarosa is sent to Shiz University, and Elphaba is tasked by the mayor to watch over his favorite child, but not to matriculate herself. One thing leads to another, and Elphaba’s temper is loosed by the jeers of the students. Chaos and destruction of a telekinetic nature ensues, and the outcast is taken under the wing of Shiz’s exuberantly coiffed professor of sorcery, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), a choosy sort of teacher who only instructs the very, very gifted. It earns Elphaba a place at the university as a student, but it also earns her the ire of Galinda (Arianna Grande-Butera), the narcissist who wants to be a sorceress as well as the most popular girl at Shiz. Succeeding at the latter is not enough. The two become sworn enemies, antagonistic roommates, and finally the best of friends who will face a momentous crossroads together.
The film depends on Erivo and Grande-Butera, and they come through. Erivo’s Elphaba is ironic, hardened but with a heart still capable of being hurt, and capable of affection when given the slightest encouragement. She is the perfect foil for Grande-Butera’s Galinda, a slip of a blonde tyrant who gets her first taste of not getting her way when Elphaba re-arranges the room they are forced to share. There is a lively dynamic between them, and between them and the audience. We know for whom we want to root at a gut level, and being challenged about our pre-conceived notions is a ruffling experience when Galinda shows what for her is significant emotional growth, leading to the lavishly staged song-and-dance “Popular,”as the former mean girl wants to help Elphaba to change into something she’s not. Grande-Butera is a wonder of self-absorbed insincerity up to this point and somehow maintains that idiom even as Galinda embarks on a real friendship, so different from what she gets from her fawning posse, led by an exquisitely bitchy Bowen Yang, that is her normal form of companionship. Grande-Butera sinks her teeth into it, infusing such plastic sincerity into the future Glinda telling the Munchkins how happy they are to see her at the start of the film after the Wicked Witch is killed, and feeling what she thinks of as compassion for how much her parents will miss her after dropping her off at Shiz.
How Galinda becomes Glinda, and Elphaba loses her name altogether involves a plot to deprive the animals of their speech, a prince (Johnathan Bailey) who may be deeper than he appears, and a visit to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum at his most Jeff Goldblum-iest). Anything but a light and frothy opus, WICKED delves into the evil that humankind does, the willing co-conspirators, and the people who stand idly by rather than get into trouble by speaking up. The metaphors are potent, starting with the cult of beauty that opens doors for a shockingly selfish and calculating Galinda, and ending with Professor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage) being forcibly removed from his classroom by armed guards for the crime of being a goat. That it’s followed by smarmy mouthpiece explaining to a willing audience of students that the lion cub trembling in its cage is actually excited to be confined reinforces with a steel-toed boot kick how evil flourishes. Hint, it’s when good people stand by as opined by Hannah Arendt.
The filmmakers have opened up the action with a superb panache. Proper tribute is paid to the 1939 film, but the production design is not hobbled by eschewing advancements in special effects. Indeed, the finale is breathtaking with its upgraded flying monkeys and the vertiginous swoops Elphaba takes as she zooms over the Emerald City.
Yes, WICKED is a fairy tale, but it’s the old school, Brothers Grimm variety that does not offer a happy ending without grotesquerie, in this case the price of being difference with the rise of fascism and how very easy it is for evil to take root and to flourish. And even easier to paint a villain out of a resister. Expect goosebumps from the spectacle and the from the message.
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