By: Amelia Naughten, News Editor

Every cinematic era has its trademark colors. The summer of 2023 was marked by one color: pink–and not just any plain pink, but the iconic, hot, Barbie pink. Come winter 2024, and theaters across the country are “holding space” for a new color: a Wicked green.

It’s almost impossible to ignore the massive reach that the recent launch of Wicked, part one of the movie adaptation of the same named musical, has had. From emotional press interviews to merchandise and product partnerships, this movie has taken over the media. Especially with the casting of pop star Ariana Grande as Glinda, one of the two main leads, fans were excited to see her back under the spotlight.

An avid musical fan, I’m happy to say that I knew Wicked before its resurgence in popularity, being lucky enough to have watched one of the tour performances in SF. However, this experience gave me conflicting emotions when I learned about the upcoming movie.

For those who haven’t yet heard of Wicked, it began as the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, reimagining Frank L. Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba. Born with green skin due to her mother’s magical affair, Elphaba grows up ostracized in Munchkinland. When her sister, Nessarose, attends Shiz University, Elphaba’s magical abilities are accidentally revealed in a flurry of emotions, earning her an unexpected scholarship at Shiz and chance to meet the Wizard. There, she befriends Galinda (later Glinda) Upland, a popular and charming girl who is her polar opposite, and the story explores their complex friendship as they become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

On one hand, I was excited to be able to relive the magic of that night. But the fact that previous recent musical-to-movie adaptations, namely Mean Girls, was severely underwhelming wasn’t helping my case. I also had similar doubts about Grande’s role, and whether or not her status as a celebrity had played a bigger factor in the casting.

I ended up watching the movie one of the first weekends it came out–Wicked defied all the expectations I had.

The Sets

Right off the bat, the sets on Wicked drew me into the story. The first scene shows Munchkin children running across a field of tulips into their town square, introducing the first song, “No One Mourns the Wicked.”  The Munchkin town featured a small mud village surrounded by what looked like miles of bright tulips–a more realistic interpretation of the 1939 production’s playful set. What surprised me even more? Those tulips were real, and over 9 million were planted to make up the set.

In similar ways, much of the sets in the movie were built with a focus on practical real effects, or as architect Nathan Crowley put it in an interview with the Architectural Digest, the team emphasized “taking things out” rather than risking cheapening the environment with CGI.  From the Emerald City train station to the turning bookshelves in “Dancing Through Life,” the backdrops provided an immersive experience that grounded me in an otherwise unbelievable place.

Costuming

Another way that the producers elevated this movie was through the costumes. Already, the musical set a high standard to live up to, with Elphaba’s iconic frock and the Emerald City’s eclectic dresses. The movie’s costuming choices ended up being equally iconic but in a way that differed a lot from the musical, which I liked. 

Although Elphaba’s frock wasn’t nearly as drab as the musical portrayed it, I think that it was an appropriate choice for an up-close movie where details could be better seen and clothing wasn’t relied upon too much for storytelling purposes. Specifically, Glinda’s Ozdust dress and the Emerald City swirling skirts had to be my favorite pieces, but overall, I really enjoyed the asymmetrical Ozian feel that the costumes provided. Also, Cynthia Erivo (who played Elphaba) chose to have her green makeup applied physically rather than with a CGI overlay, which she has said helped her better embody the character in interviews.

Ariana & Cynthia’s Dynamic

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo both delivered their roles beautifully. They worked together so well and you could really tell that they had an almost sisterly bond by the end of the movie. 

Grande paid really good homage to Glinda, and her singing was really on point for her character. Erivo also sang with so much passion and liveliness, even doing her own stunts. For example, in the final song of the movie, “Defying Gravity,” Erivo sang live while being hoisted up and flipped around to simulate flying. 

Both characters felt natural and because it’s in movie format, you get to learn a lot more about them and see their emotions and quirks up close (something you don’t get in the stage show). At one point in the movie, the original actors from Broadway who played Elphaba and Glinda, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, made a cameo that symbolized the “passing of the torch” to Cynthia and Ariana. I’m glad that the two actresses captured these characters so well, and their performances really brought the show to life. The hype around Wicked was well deserved, and movie-goers can expect to see part two of the movie in theaters this fall on November 21, 2025. Regardless of whether you think the movie was good or bad, the advertising entertaining or annoying, I think we can all appreciate that Wicked has brought justice to movie adaptations of musicals (and books by extension), and that it has allowed more people to celebrate musical theater. There’s not many movies that have been able to do so to the same extent, so I can confidently say that Wicked (which has racked up 10 academy award nominations) changed the movie industry for good.