‘Wicked:’ For Good, For Better, For Worse

Even if the musical stage adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s popular 1995 novel Wicked (the truly clever backstory of L. Frank Baum’s famous children’s story The Wizard of Oz) could wow audiences the world over in the space of something less than two and a half hours, the film version, directed by John M. Chu, totals nearly five hours. That’s because Universal Studios’ uber-elites directed screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox to split Wicked in two parts. Part One opened last Thanksgiving to extraordinary acclaim. Part Two, titled Wicked: For Good, just opened today. That’s a difference of an entire year.

It’s surprising therefore that this second half of the story does not offer a brief recap of Part One. I was certain that, after a year’s hiatus, I would be offered a brief synopsis of where we left perky little Glinda (Ariana Grande), the odd Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), and scheming Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh,) even if we remembered keenly that Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) was defying gravity in one of the most emotional, heartbreaking moments in the history of film.

The fact is, a year’s hiatus actually serves some purpose other than Hollywood’s hedonism. In Part One, our young BFF’s, Elphaba and Glinda, learn their lessons within the walls of their magical school, Shiz University. Now graduated, the two witches deal with the woes of a bigger world, of darker evils, of wickedness, and of true love. 

Wicked: For Good opens with the construction of the yellow brick road. The scorned and silenced animals of the Wizard’s realm have been subjugated to hard labor. In particular, fantastical beasts, something like hairy rhinoceroses, haul a massive bricklaying machine through the dense and scary woods that separate Munchkinland from the Emerald City of Oz. But the sweating beasts revolt and all the other woodland creatures scamper into tunnels to escape certain, impending slavery. Elphaba, since banished from Oz, arrives on her broom to promise the critters she will vanquish the evil Wizard and restore, not just their peaceful ways, but their ability to speak and reason. As we now recall, Elphaba’s outrage in Part One was the result of lessons she learned in Dr. Dillamond’s class. Dr. Dillamond was the goat (voiced by Peter Dinklage) who brought the caged lion cub to his classroom as evidence that a ruling class in Oz has no tolerance for animals contributing to the better good of the Emerald realm.

Now, among the champions who have helped suborn the animals, Madame Morrible presents “Glinda the Good” with an honorary magic wand (despite her having no such powers to wish “good”). It’s all just a symbolic gesture to rile Elphaba whom Madame Morrible has now decreed is the Wicked Witch of the West. Which means, too, that Glinda will soon marry Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey,) much to his surprise and despite his apparent love for Elphaba. 

Thus begins Part Two’s somewhat laborious effort to wrestle with romantic relationships. Sure, the two young witches have matured since their school days, but now, somehow, their pheromones serve to exacerbate their once fiendish friendship. Scenes suggest more sexual innuendo than show kissing. But a theater filled with Fourth and Fifth Graders with whom I saw the show understandably giggled; an older audience might have gasped.  

Part Two has a lot of plot to play out and, gratefully, it requires little explanation—that is unless you’ve never seen the original (1939) film version of Dorothy’s visit to the land of Oz. After all, Maguire’s novel, as well as the book for the stage musical, is a backstory. We well know that a young girl from Kansas (and her little dog, Toto, too!) will meet up with a tin man, cowardly lion, and scarecrow to abscond with the witch’s broom to earn favors from the wizard. And so, when these classic characters appear in Wicked: For Good, thus bridging the new to the old (or is it the other way around?) we are happily fulfilled by our expectations. But with all that’s necessary on screen to bring that about, composer Stephen Schwartz and director Chu found it necessary to add two new songs not written (or perhaps, never used) for the stage musical. The titles are fitting: “There’s No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in The Bubble.” I can only suggest that there was good reason, beyond show length, not to have included them on stage. One tune is better than the other, but that’s not saying a lot. 

And, too, what was funny in Part One—Glinda’s superfluous words like “scandalacious,” “horrendible” or “confusifying”—is gone. Well, mostly. One cute Ozian term for a second in time is served up as a “clock tick.” But then the joke gets repeated. (Please, no!) 

Further, unless I was distracted by my young gigglers, I missed the disappearance of a secondary character whose sudden reemergence later in the film begged an explanation that, by then, was moot. 

So, is Wicked: For Good better or worse than Part One? My answer is to recognize that each cannot stand alone and that, screened together, may be too much of a good thing. Of course, the stage musical can never compete with the global reach of either film part. And Maguire’s novel will forever stand on library shelves even if L. Frank Baum’s stories about Oz—all 14 of them!—have taken their rightful spot in American literature since The Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900. 

One hundred and twenty-five years later, our culture is still, as Glinda might say, “obsessified” with the world of Oz in Wicked. And that’s all For Good.

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers film, live theater, and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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