Wicked Is My Whole Personality, Again.

First of all, there will be no spoilers here so let’s get that out of the way. I am strictly here to talk about all the ways this movie has brought a fantastical, whimsy, way of life back to the surface.

The first time I saw Wicked I was in the 8th grade (it had been out for 5 years at that time) however I’ve always been an obsessive lil’ queen and had learned the music forwards, backwards, and upside down prior to seeing the show. Honestly I think I may have learned how to use my belt learning that music…need to refer back to my mom and what she remembers being able to hear me practicing in the basement from upstairs. That being said when I saw it on stage it blew my MIND. I was absolutely changed for good and had me saying “What is this feeling so sudden and new?” *Sorry, I’m going to slip in as much as I can, it’s my time.*

I have been fortunate to have had parents that always prioritized the theater. I may have only been 12 but I had seen a great deal of broadway up until that point so saying I was just awestruck by seeing my first broadway show doesn’t fit here. Wicked really was that enamoring to me…and everyone else, considering it’s run of over 20 years now, making it the fourth-longest running show on broadway in history having played 7,486 performances in April of 2023 (where it surpassed my first love, Cats on the list. lol). For those with curious minds like my own: The Phantom of the Opera holds the number 1 spot followed by Chicago and then The Lion King.

Long way of saying, Wicked is an It Girl.

Why? My personal ethos has always said the music. The score (or soundtrack, what do we call it now??) is bop after bop and if you have ever ridden shotgun with me after the witching hour of 10 pm, you have been subject to an (obnoxious) exclusive Wicked listening room featuring your’s truly. After the movie, I must say I have switched my position and hard stop answer with the story. I was dumb founded by all the emotions that came up whilst watching the movie. I have always felt the story deeply but the way this team put this story together and zoomed in on the deep, profound messages throughout the script and so so so much of it was completely silently communicated. No music or lines just the purest emotionality brought to the big screen.

There are few words, if any at all, to describe what Cynthia did when she brought Elphaba to life in this movie. It is remarkable how rooted she was in this character. She presented the broadest spectrum of emotions that you could only find somewhere over the rainbow. The end of Wizard and I and Defying Gravity made me stop breathing. I genuinely cannot put her performance into words other than I want to study this performance until I am 6 feet under. No one else could have done it the way she did and we all are extraordinarily lucky to be on Earth at the same time as she, to behold her talent in real time.

Ariana. I think we can all put aside the amount of discourse on her being casted after seeing the project in full. She made miraculous choices throughout. She was the character. Her musicality is different than what we are used to when listening to the original score but if we are going to hold her to that then we must hold the entire cast to that. And bottom line: this is different, it is not broadway so the asks are different. And for the project of the movie she was tremendous. I adored some of her vocal choices. Some of her opt ups were so exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed all the work she has clearly put into her operatic chops. She was dreadfully adorable, just the way we love Galinda. A triumph no doubt.

Jonathan Bailey is our generation’s John Travolta. I shall not be be providing further explanation and will be taking no further questions here.

The only casting question marks I had were Oz played by Jeff Goldblum, whom I loved in the character but his short and quick “Sentimental Man” was lackluster at best. Could we not get a vocal coach up in here for some help with breath support???…but also let’s be so for real that song sucks (lol) but whatever it moves the story forward; a necessary evil, there’s always got to be one.

Madame Morrible played by Michelle Yeoh is also a wonderful talent but her short few bars she sings in the beginning of The Wizard and I were also meh. Breath support took us out yet again but ya know, that’s ok. No biggie. Like I said before: the asks for these characters are different than on broadway so this is just me being annoyingly picky.

One recurring thought throughout the viewing was how much I was appreciating the diction throughout the musical performances. I heard every. single. word. any character was singing and frankly you just do not get that in the live theater because the volume levels are simply unable to be controlled the way they are in a movie recording. Still cannot fathom the fact they did all of this live and the audio is crisp af.

Real quick, real quick what in the ever loving hell do you mean with this set and costuming??? Girl. It’s art. That is all there is to it. Freaking art in the highest form. I want to have it all. I want to live there. I want to eat it. I want a Emerald City living room and a Glinda bedroom. It lit me UP. I just cannot believe how beautiful it was. They stayed doing the most and you can tell that shit was expensive. Clearly no expense was spared and honestly thank you to the powers that be that made that budget happened. It will be cherished for years to come the same way The Wizard of Oz has been, I have no doubt. They will certainly sit on the shelf together in my brain for their shared colorful displays of fantasy.

The moment it was over I looked at my fiancé and said “we have to go right now” because I was holding in more joyful emotion than I had the space in my body to hold. I unleashed a sob when we got in the car. I was giggling, silent, staring, crying, gasping. I did not know what to do with myself. What a gift to have a piece of art effect me so much that I woke up today feeling like a shell of human I had felt so many emotions yesterday.

So. That being said I am going again next Sunday. I can tell you right now you will want to see it more than once. I cannot wait to see all the things I missed from the first time. My next viewing I will be trying to watch more choreography, prop details, costume details but if you are seeing it for the first time here are the things I think you should look for: acting within the eyes - 1. the story Elphaba and Glinda are telling with their eyes the entire time is otherworldly *bonus points for the opening understanding you get from Glinda when she is in Munchkinland*; 2. look for easter eggs about details in the story - there is so much foreshadowing and added jokes that point to what will happen or what happened along the way that make the story make more sense that are not in the original stage production.

If you have seen it already or if you have it on the calendar to see it please comment what you are most excited for, worried they will or won’t do, what you think about the characters you have seen so far from marketing, what you thought if you have seen it already, if you disagree with me on anything…I am dying to hear it all. My close

friends and family are SICK of me so please I am begging, deep dive with me on every little detail. K, thanks, bye!

That’s it,

Lou