Spoilers below, defy at your own risk.
Wow! Just Wow! Wicked Part I is absolutely perfect from the moment it starts.
Those that know me, know how passionate I am about musicals. As a kid, The Music Man was banned because I watched it SO much on PBS. I would sing my own melodies from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals at the bus stop in high school (and if I finished, I knew I had missed the bus). I still hear the baby crying in the audience a second before the gunshot in West Side Story when watching the production at the Naval Academy, and I am just as obsessed with Singing In the Rain, Holiday Inn, the King and I (Yul!), and Yankee Doodle Dandy as I am with Sound of Music, 1776, Olivier!, Fiddler on the Rood, Mary Poppins, Dream Girls, and The Color Purple… and The Greatest Showman and Tick, Tick… Boom! are my comfort viewing right up there with ER. And don’t get me started with virtually every Disney animation that really are musicals.
So even though I see good in virtually every musical (except Book of Mormon and La La Land), not many want me to jump out of my seat to break out in song and dance (ironically the more recent ones – The Greatest Showman, & Juliet, The Color Purple – provoke those emotions.) Wicked is that movie.
So where do I start?
After seeing it a second time in less than a week, as much as I loved every second of the film, I will start with what I wasn’t expecting, and that is Jonathan Bailey.
I know, I am late to the game with being fully smitten by this beautiful human being, but the moment he arrives (on his horse from Bridgerton), he has viewers craving for more. He truly steals every scene he is in when he slightly bends his head and has that “essence” jumping off the screen that you feel in your bones, wanting to just go up and wrap yourself around him. His demeanor leaps of full confidence yet it also feels like he is floating in the air as he slides between characters, knowing he is the center of attention in the most non arrogant arrogant way. And yet, you see his passion for humanity (and animals) and that pull toward Elphaba while being “perfect” for Glinda.
But put all of that aside for one of the best moments in the film: Jonathan Bailey takes “Dancing Through Life” to a completely different universe. The producers did a magical job setting it in one of the most imaginative libraries ever. The wheels as bookcases are beyond outstanding and Jonathan- as Fiyero – plays up every part of that stage.
His dancing is memorizing as his body is in total limbo swerving, curving, leaping in effortless motion, commanding the attention of all, and connecting with anyone in his path, male or female. Actually, his body matches the song lyrics “swaying and sweeping and always keeping cool”. It’s just breathtaking to watch. Truly breathtaking. I loved “Dancing Through Life” as a song, but now I want to dance through life watching Fiyero over and over. Be still my swaying and sweeping heart.
Moving to a more calming place where Mr. Bailey is not making me want to get up and dance with him….
Imagery: The sets are the best I ever have seen, especially the colors. I thought The Color Purple did a remarkable job with its imagery – as I wrote about in my raving review of that musical film earlier this year, yet Wicked took it to a whole other level. It’s fantasy in the most beautiful and yet realistic way. You know it’s all in this imaginary land of Oz, with nothing being real life, and yet it all feels so real.
And some of the scenes look exactly like the beauty of a Thomas Kinkade painting. Every color choice, every prop, perfection. And they did a great job subtly giving tribute to the Wizard of Oz, with a rainbow with blue birds as Elphaba runs in the field, and at the very beginning of the movie you see a glimpse of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin man and Cowardly Lion skipping down the yellow brick road, and then you see munckins running through poppy fields to announce the death of the Wicked Witch. Yes there is CGI, but for the most part you don’t notice it and when you do, it’s totally fine with me! And they have the title of the movie in the same font that they used in the Wizard of Oz!
Storyline: Two minutes into the movie and I immediately got a whole new understanding of the storyline. Even if you just listen to the soundtrack you know what happens in the musical. Yet the movie makes everything very clear, and one of those “oh yeah” moments when it ALL makes sense. And when the movie was over, Jack said the same thing to me. Listening to the stage version we pick up that the citizens of Oz celebrating the wicked witch’s death goes with the line early in the movie when Elphaba is dreaming of meeting the wizard and gets excited at the thought that everyone will be rejoicing her. But when I heard that line in the movie, it fully sank in and made me tear up thinking yes, they all will be rejoicing Elphaba…being dead.
Extra spoiler alert if you don’t want any hints to Part II. The lion cub they save from the history class after the new professor tries to talk about the benefits of keeping animals in cages so they wont learn how to talk – that adorable little cub is really the Cowardly Lion… which makes total sense now! And another nod to the Wizard of Oz – when E and F rescue the lion cub, they put it in a basket and ride off on bikes that match the same ones we see in the beginning of the Wizard of Oz with Toto!
Elphaba’s sister’s character is so much more present in the movie. When listening to the soundtrack or watching it on stage, it never registered to me that the sister would go on to be the Wicked Witch of the East that we see killed at the start of the Wizard of Oz. Ironically, we only see her legs – which is telling given she is in a wheelchair in Wicked. I cant wait to see what Part II brings with her character. Oh fun fact, the actress playing her was excited that the Wicked set was fully accessible for her – both “Oz” and behind the scenes were designed with a wheelchair user in mind!
“Why can’t you teach us history instead of harping on the past?” It was a key line in the stage production. It has even more meaning now.
Also, just coming off Jack’s Twelfth Night productions, where we are told greatness is thrust upon some us, it was telling now to hear “”Are people born wicked or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” In this case – there was nothing wicked at all about Elphaba!!!
Actors: I know, I “harped” on Jonathan Bailey at the beginning, but I would be amiss if I didn’t give acknowledgement to how wonderful all the actors are in the movie. People are not wrong in saying how stunning Ariana Grande is as Glinda and I fully support all the talk about how this was the role she spent her life preparing for.
And Cynthia Erivo gets better and better with every line in the movie. Don’t get me wrong – I adore Idina Menzel and no one can replace her voice. But this wasn’t about mirroring Idina. Cynthia made Elphaba her own, and by the end of Part I, you know she belonged in this role too. And speaking about Idina Menzel – another spoiler if you didn’t see the movie yet – Idina and Kristin Chenoweth are in the movie at just the right now and are hilarious as they interact with Ariana and Cynthia.
Michelle Yeoh was a surprise to me as Madame Morrible, but she grows into her character and once you see her motives by the end of Part I, it makes so much sense why they would cast someone like Yeoh.
In Closing: The title of my chapter in one of the books I co-authored was a line from Defying Gravity (Some things I cannot change, But till I try I’ll never know) so I will just leave you with these other quotes for moving forward in life…at least until Part II!
“And if I’m flying solo, At least I’m flying free”
“As Someone Told Me Lately, Everyone Deserves The Chance To Fly.”
“It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap.”
November 21, 2025 cant get here soon enough for Part II!
Intrepid Oaks 