Did you know 21 years ago, on Oct. 8, 2003, “Wicked” debuted on Broadway for the first time ever? It went on to win three Tony Awards and is considered to be one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time.
On Nov. 22, 2024, the “Wicked” film premiered internationally in theaters with Ariana Grande playing Glinda (the good witch) and Cynthia Erivo portraying Elphaba. If you have ever watched the 1939 movie “Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, then you might know who Glinda and Elphaba are.
In “Oz,” Elphaba is known as the “Wicked Witch of the West.” In keeping her evil reputation, she vows to kill Dorothy to avenge for her sister and retrieve the ruby slippers, where as Glinda helps Dorothy make her way home to Kansas.
However, in “Oz,” the true story of Elphaba is not told at all, which does her no justice because it is only based off Dorothy’s perspective. By contrast, “Wicked” tells the backstory of how Elphaba came to be the “Wicked Witch of the West” as well as how Glinda and Elphaba came to know each other.
“I’ve watched ‘Wizard of Oz’ before but never heard of ‘Wicked.’ When I found out those two were connected, it made so much sense. Besides that, it’s a good film,” said Eduardo Cruz, a senior.
There will be two “Wicked” films. The second film is expected to premiere on Nov. 21, 2025, announced by director Jon M. Chu who has directed other films such as “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In The Heights.” In April 2022, Chu went on Instagram to explain the reason to a sequel, “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of ‘Wicked’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it. As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years.”
The role of Elphaba was previously played by Idina Menzel on Broadway. The famed lyrics to “Popular! You are gonna be Popular!” were sung previously by Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda. The two Broadway stars have a cameo in the film.
Other celebrities who participated in this film include Jeff Goldblum, who is playing The Wizard. Madame Morrible will be played by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. And for fans of Bridgeton, if you could not get enough of Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton, he is back as Fiyero, Elphaba’s and Glinda’s love interest.
Chu said that his casting is “perfect” in an Entertainment weekly Interview. Broadway actor Ethan Slater is playing Boq, Nessarose’s love interest. Nessarose is Elphaba’s younger sister, played by Marissa Bode.
To get fans all around the world hyped up for this film, “Wicked” has collaborated with many brands such as Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty, H&M, Crocs, Aerie, OPI, Starbucks, Target, Claire’s, and Stanley.
“Out of all the collaborations they released, my favorite one had to be the Stanley x Wicked collection, they did a really good job designing them,” said Ana Lemus, a senior.
Though there was a problem when Mattel released the collection of dolls for the collaboration. Many fans noticed a misprint that led to an inappropriate website which caused Mattel to get huge backlash as this product is marketed towards children.
As of today, Mattel did issue an apology and pulled thousands of their dolls off shelves, but they have slowly started to reappear in some stores. Their solution was to obscure the website with labels and occasional sharpie marks.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Grande and Erivo spoke about auditioning for “Wicked” with Chu. Grande, who is an American singer, songwriter, and two Grammy winner has been in stardom ever since she was child with her first appearing in the 2008 Broadway musical 13. She is most remembered by early 2000’s kids as Cat Valentine in both Victorious/ Sam and Cat shows in Nickelodeon. In 2013, she debuted with her album “Yours Truly” which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Erivo, an Oscar, Grammy, and daytime Emmy winner is best known for her roles in films such as Harriet as “Harriet Tubman” and Aretha Franklin on “Genius.” According to an article in Vanity Fair, she commented on how for the role of Elphaba “honestly didn’t believe I’d be seen,” but Chu explains that he immediately knew she captured the character during her audition.
“I believe that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo did a fantastic job as Glinda and Elphaba from clips that I’ve seen on social media, those two were made for those roles. Watching their interviews and how they talk/get emotional about their characters I can tell those two loved every moment on set,” said Ana Lemus, a senior.
According to CBS News, ten days after its release, the “Wicked” film made more than $360 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing Broadway musical adaptation of all time. Fans of “Wicked” are wearing green and pink merch to go support the movie. Others have decided to not go watch it in theaters but at home instead.
“I won’t be going to watch the movie in theaters. Instead, I will wait until it is released on Peacock to watch at home with my family,” said Connie Lopez, a senior.
“Wicked” is available for pre-order on Amazon Prime with the cost of $29.99 to watch. The film is expected to be in theaters until Jan. 9, 2025. Fans who have already seen the film can expect to see “Wicked II” next November in theaters.