A year on from the release of Wicked Part 1 and the Act 2 adaptation of Stephen Schwartz’s hit Broadway musical arrives in cinemas this week in the form of Wicked For Good. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reprise their roles – and impressive pipes – as Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and Glinda (the Good Witch), following Part 1, which depicted their time at Americanised Hogwarts (or should that be Ozwarts?). Now Part 2 overlaps with the events of the Wizard of Oz, before, during and beyond. Much like the first half, Wicked For Good’s greatest strength is its musical numbers. With Erivo’s bombastic performance of Defying Gravity spectacularly concluding Part 1, what came next was going to be hard to follow. Wonderfully, the power of this number was replicated in Elphaba’s rendition of No Good Deed high up in her witch’s tower, scoring audible “wows” from the audience at the European premiere. Another highlight was the emotional and reconciliatory track For Good, while original composer Stephen Schwartz penned two new songs for Part 2 in Erivo’s No Place Like Home and Grande’s The Girl in the Bubble. Both are fine reflective ballads, but they pale in comparison to the original hits and only add to the overlong runtime. Just to give you an idea, the first movie alone manages to be 10 minutes longer than the entire runtime of the stage musical.
With Oz’s fantastical emerald landscape and talking CGI animals, Wicked For Good certainly has the look and feel of a Disney live-action remake with all its digital gloopiness. As with the stage musical, we never see Dorothy’s face and certain characters from Part 1 become her strange companions in need of help from Jeff Goldblum’s wonderfully eccentric Wizard. Meanwhile, Michelle Yeoh’s villain feels somewhat miscast, but Jonathan Bailey excels once again as the dashing Fiyero, who there may be more to than meets the eye.
But it’s Grande who stands out as the preening pink princess Glinda, in a role that will probably score her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. As a whole, Wicked and Wicked For Good aren’t for everybody. Sure, it’s a treat for the super fans, but saying goodbye to the yellow brick road for probably won’t be that memorable for most.
Wicked For Good hits UK cinemas on Friday.
