How many times have you watched THE WIZARD OF OZ? I think I’ve watched it at least a dozen times. It has certainly been enough times to know the words to all the songs by heart. A younger generation might say the same about the play WICKED. Loosely adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, which in turn is based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and the timeless film adaptation from 1939, WICKED tells the backstories of both the Wicked Witch of the West, who is named Elphaba (an acronym formed from the initials of “L. Frank Baum”), and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North who, we learn, was originally called Galinda before she changed her name. Twenty-one years after the play first premiered, a movie adaptation has arrived to our cinemas and it’s every bit the spectacle that the stage version is. Perhaps more so as it’s much longer than the version that millions of people have seen on stage. Part One of WICKED is just a few minutes shorter than the whole play is.

WICKED, as its official title is, begins just after THE WIZARD OF OZ ends. The Wicked Witch of the West has been “liquidated”, as the 1939 film calls her demise, and the people of Munchkinland are celebrating. But at least one Munchkin knows something that the rest of us didn’t. It turns out that The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda (Ariana Grande, DON’T LOOK UP) were once friends. And not just casual friends either. It seems they were roommates when they were students at Shiz University, a sort of Hogwarts. (Now it should be noted that “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” predates the “Harry Potter” books by a couple of years so if anyone copied anyone, I would say that J.K. Rowling did the copying.) With the news that the two women were once friends, the story then flashes back to Elphaba’s birth and why her skin is green, and her growing up with her younger sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode). When Nessarose, who is wheelchair-bound, gets accepted into Shiz, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, WIDOWS; BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE) accompanies her there to make sure she gets settled in comfortably. Elphaba’s ability to levitate objects when she gets angry catches the eye of the Dean of Sorcery, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, EEAAO), and the teacher offers Elphaba a place in her class as well as assigning her to room with the vacuous and spoiled mean girl, Galinda. Although the two young women clash right away, particularly over their interest in the dashing but thoughtless Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey, TV’s BRIDGERTON), they do come to appreciate each other and form a bond. It’s not long before word of Elphaba’s magical powers reaches the Emerald City and she receives an invitation for an audience with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, the JURASSIC WORLD franchise). Elphaba brings Glinda along (she’s changed her name by this point for a reason that is explained quite well) but the two women soon realize that the Wizard and Madame Morrible are not the nurturing people they thought they were.

And that’s just Part One but what a Part One it is! The film’s 160-minute runtime just flies by as the cast belts out the show’s tunes that include fan favourites “Popular” and “Defying Gravity”. I swear I could hear people in my audience singing along to Grande and Erivo. Both women’s performances are exceptional but Grande dials hers up to 11 by flexing her comedic chops that very few of us even knew she had. The supporting cast, which also includes Bowen Yang (TV’s SNL) playing Glinda sycophant Pfannee, Ethan Slater as the fickle-hearted Boq Woodsman and Peter Dinklage (CYRANO; TV’s GOT) who voices the goat Dr. Dillamond, are just as wonderful. Director Jon M. Chu (IN THE HEIGHTS; CRAZY RICH ASIANS) truly assembled a dream cast and he got all of them to bring their A-game to this production. He also introduces two new characters into the mix who will bring huge smiles to audiences’ faces. I know I was blown away at that point. The production design by six-time Oscar nominee Nathan Crowley (WONKA; THE GREATEST SHOWMAN) and his team is everything you would expect from Munchkinland and the Emerald City. It’s colourful and exciting yet also familiar with its many nods to the source material.

WICKED ends just where it should. It leaves audiences wanting more. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a whole year for the second part to hit our movie screens and there’s no word yet on how long that film will be or if there will be any new songs to learn the words to. Clearly, the stage has been set for some interesting developments for all the characters and it’s not hard to see where some of those arcs will go. How they’ll get there, though, is another matter.

WICKED is in cinemas around the world now. Defy gravity and go see it.

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