Wicked Part One! A Spoiler-Free Review.

On Saturday, I went to see the movie Wicked.

Big confession! I have never seen the musical Wicked. Before yesterday, I was only familiar with three of the songs from the Broadway production. (Just as an FYI they were Popular, What is this feeling?, and Defying Gravity.) I knew very little about it, aside from character names and like… you know stuff that happens in the Wizard of Oz. I sound really clueless right now, and that’s okay.

Wicked covers Act One of the Broadway musical. So if you’ve seen the musical, you know what goes on! If you haven’t, this musical follows the “Wicked Witch of the West” Elphaba and Glinda the Good in their early days. Before the events of The Wizard of Oz. It’s super vague as a description, and it may not do the movie as much justice as I think it does. But I really don’t want to spoil it.

I found that you don’t need to know a lot about the story to enjoy it. Sure, the film is probably an even cooler experience for someone who loves the musical and all of the songs. It felt like the film was made with so much love and respect for the Broadway production.

To start out, I did make sure to listen to the Act One soundtrack before going into the movie. Just to make sure I knew the songs already. And it was nice to get myself in the mood for the movie.

The movie itself was amazing! I loved the performances from most of the main cast. Cynthia Erivo is a fantastic Elphaba. I loved her voice so much. Ariana Grande had such a fun energy as Glinda, and as usual her voice is on point. It’s to be expected from someone who has a huge love for the theatre. And I loved Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero.

Honestly, all of the performances were really good, and I can’t really think of anything stylistically or otherwise that made me upset.

The songs were fantastic, just as good as the ones from the original broadway recording. I think I liked “The Wizard and I” the most out of the all the songs. Though “What is this feeling” and “Dancing Through Life” were such fun bops that made my heart lift up. And the visuals of Shiz and the Emerald City and even all of Oz were pretty fun to see.

I liked the angle and similarities between Elphaba’s life experience and the growing troubles of the talking animals in Oz. Dr. Dillamond was one of my favorite characters. And the connection the two had over their strifes and how society treats them makes it even easier to get behind Elphaba as a character. (Because, let’s be honest, I love Elphaba. She’s such a good character.)

So, overall! I think this is an easy nine out of ten! But honestly, I think it’s easily the best movie musical I have seen. And I will probably annoy my coworkers a bit with how obsessed I am with this cast’s renditions of all the songs!

So, have you seen it yet? Are you planning to see it? How badly do you think Part Two will emotionally affect me? If you can answer these questions without spoiling the second act, let me know!