I just watched Wicked Part 1, and it’s fantastic. As a fan of the musical (I’ve seen it three times), I was nervous about its translation to film, but I was unnecessarily worried.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are excellent leads. Their characters are believable, their singing technical, and they are fun! There was so much expectation surrounding this film, but they rise to the challenge.
The original Wizard of Oz was written in 1900, the first film adaptation in 1939, and then Gregory Maguire wrote ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ in 1995. Maguire essentially wrote a fan fiction where he took elements from the original Wizard of Oz and created a revisionist backstory for the characters; in particular the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba.
It took eight years for that book to be adapted to a musical, and a further 20 years for that musical to be adapted to the film we have today. That’s an impressive 124 year journey from the original book. And given what Wicked the movie has accomplished, it really feels like the ultimate fan fiction.