The new movie adaptation of the famous Broadway musical “Wicked,” has caught the attention of many.
“Wicked” is a popular Broadway musical centering around the story behind Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship meeting at a university. They start off as roommates that dislike each other, but soon their relationship grows and develops into a deeper bond as the story progresses. The Broadway show version of “Wicked” tells the story of the famous musical film “Wizard of Oz” from another perspective, specifically the witches of Oz.
“They did a great job of representing friendship and the whole concept of embracing your differences in the first [act]. The way they portrayed friendship is beautiful,” said junior Mayah D.
Some previous movie adaptations of Broadway musicals have not been well-received by many fans due to factors such as inaccurate plotlines and poor casting. Consequently, many fans had poor expectations for this movie, fearing the movie would not live up to the success of the show.
“I expected [the movie] to be worse than the show because that is the norm of show remakes nowadays. I don’t know if I would say [the movie] was worse than the show but it was equal to it,” said junior Logan B.
Despite these expectations from fans, “Wicked” seems to be an exception.
“Now I am a much bigger fan of “Wicked”, and just the actors, I feel like it was such a perfect cast. I feel like I haven’t seen an adaptation done better than this. They didn’t take out anything and only added things that helped the movie to be incredible,” said Mayah.
A film version of “Wicked” also meant the atmosphere of a theatrical stage was transformed into a cinematic experience of a movie theatre. Additionally, the movie benefits from modern technology that helped portray certain elements with better precision and detail than the Broadway production could.
“I think for this story I liked the movie format more because we were able to see more of the special effects that you don’t get to see on stage,” said Logan.
An entirely new twist to the film version of “Wicked” is the casting of Ariana Grande, famous pop artist, and Cynthia Erivo, actress and singer. The casting of these actors surprised many fans. Nevertheless, some fans were still skeptical about the casting of Ariana Grande as one of the main characters due to her lack of experience in the cinematic realm.
“I feel like the chemistry between Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo just sparked much emotion in me. Their friendship was just so beautiful it made me cry. Some people weren’t too sure of Ariana being a part of it, but I think the casting was perfect,” said junior Sophia E.
The Broadway version of “Wicked” is 2 hours and 45 minutes long, while the film version is 2 hours and 40 minutes long. The Broadway version covers both Act I and Act II compared to the film version that only covered Act 1. The film version of “Wicked” was able to include many new scenes that helped develop the story better.
“I love that they showed more depth to Elphaba’s character and her backstory, and also the fact that we got more scenes of Fiyero. There is also more depth to Glinda’s character and you can really emphasize with her. There is a lot more deeper character development within her that you don’t see in the show,” said junior Bella K.
The Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars, is an award ceremony which celebrates excellence in cinematic achievements. “Wicked” was nominated for 10 categories at the Oscars and was able to win 2 categories, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, according to oscars.com.
After the end of Act I many new fans are excited for the release of Act II. “Wicked: For Good” has been in production since December 2022. Both Acts have been filmed at the same time but Act II is scheduled to be released on November 21, 2025.
The film version of “Wicked” could be streamed on many streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Google Play, and Fandango at Home starting at $5.99. 
