REEL | Changing 'Wicked: For Good' – A Grand Musical Finale

"The wand really sells it."

Universal Pictures

Wicked: For Good, the second half of blockbuster director Jon M. Chu's two-part film adaptation of the massive Broadway stage musical sensation, adapted from both author Gregory Maguire's titular book series in parallel to its reinterpretation of L. Frank Baum's original 1900 children's fantasy novel, finishes off its cinematic reimagining right where Wicked: Part I left off. For the most part, the Wicked Witch of the West-led sequel lives up to the already lofty expectations of the acclaimed first film as a defiantly fitting yet slavish conclusion.

As Glinda and Elphaba, the dual "witch" performances by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as frenemies remain intact. Their sparkling chemistry balances the shifting soap opera-style melodrama of their back-and-forth allegiances. Grande, in particular, carries more of the sequel with an incredible comedic screen charisma in contrast to Erivo's soulful yet rebellious spirit.

Our handsome knight in shining armour, Jonathan Bailey as Prince Fiyero, gets less to do, but he's still heroically hunky as ever in his role as the noble protector. Both Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, as the evil sorceress and duplicitous Oz himself, continue to bring much-needed gravitas to the rushed proceedings. Sadly, there's less of the rest of the ensemble cast from Part I as Chu focuses tightly on the conflict between our central characters and the manipulative presence of Oz's totalitarian state rule.



Original Wicked playwright Winnie Holzman—with song and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, including two new ones—and screenwriter Dana Fox's lengthy but uneven script includes all the highs of the stage musical and lore while adding extra elements and short sequences to keep the conclusion barreling toward the familiar coda we all know and famously depicted in the original The Wizard of Oz film. There are enough familiar but fresh elements from Oz's greater pop culture canon.

Chu's vision fits more or less nicely into what fans were seeking. Still, there are challenges in splitting up a two-act stage epic in half while trying to keep the latter part moving forward with no real beginning and what feels like an extended, hour-long climactic ending. Despite mostly taking place in rooms or nondescript locations with two or three people talking, the production and costume design make everything about the Land of Oz pop, adding to the dramatic stakes of the film's cautionary fairytale ending.

Wicked: For Good mostly lives up to its tricky task of adapting a major stage musical—itself originated from a complicated text with its own complex history of adaptations and unofficial sequels on film and otherwise—while keeping its performances and staging sharp for contemporary audiences. There's not much else that could have been done to finish off Wicked cinematically without further changes to the well-worn fable's magical musical structure, known for having a substantially weaker second act.


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