By Olivia Janis
Over Thanksgiving Break, my life changed. For my grandfather’s birthday, my entire family went to the theater to watch the remarkable film Wicked, Part 1. On IMDB Wicked got the rating of 8.1 out of 10 and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. (MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.)
The best part was the phenomenal acting that really and truly evoked an emotional response from me. I shouldn’t have been shocked by Ariana Grande’s performance because I was familiar with her acting in Victorious, but I was. Her ability to embody Galinda’s quirky behavior and character development contributed to the overall success of the film. My favorite songs of hers were “Loathing” and “Popular.” Ariana Grande revealed in several interviews that this was her dream acting role since she was 10.
Cynthia Erivo mastered Elphaba and created a character that many of us can relate to– a girl who has so much potential, but is insecure because the world has taught her to be. Her vocals were outstanding, especially in the showstopper “Defying Gravity.”
Bowen Yang, who played Pfannee, delivered a hilarious performance, as Galinda’s sidekick, and Jonathan Bailey, playing Prince Fiyaro, charmed us all with his wit, flirtatiousness, dancing, and warmth.
All of the actors successfully integrated both comedic moments and emotional moments throughout the film, while even speaking to a greater political theme and allegory.
For those of you who are unaware, the Wizard of Oz was a political allegory reflecting the socio-political landscape of late 19th-century America, according to an article on Medium. A very prominent political debate was regarding monetary policies, so the Yellow Brick Road represented the gold standard and the silver shoes represented the pro-silver movement.
Wicked, Part 1 seems to reference social and political issues that are currently affecting America today–censorship of certain minority groups, scapegoats, discrimination based on skin color, etc–but I will leave that up to your own interpretation.
I was, of course, curious how Alaysia Georges felt about the movie, given that she’d practically exploded with enthusiasm ahead of the film coming out. She said that when she went to see the movie she was “levitating out of her seat.”
So it makes sense she would call “Defying Gravity” “a masterpiece and a masterclass on theatrical singing and acting. The emotional build was perfectly captured,” she said. She too found the film very emotional, especially during these scenes: The Oz dust ballroom, ‘Defying gravity’, “Not that Girl”, and the scene where Elphaba realizes the wizard is not actually the wizard.
For her, the politics of the film brought awareness to “the deception that goes on with people in power. It shows how propaganda can be used to pit people against each other, and how people can be united by hating an enemy.”
With these underlying themes, she believes that the film was even more powerful. When a friend of Alaysia’s, Milan Barnes, admitted to not liking the movie very much, Alaysia was appalled. She said her response to that was that anyone who did not like it is a “bot”, and asks “What is there to not love? If you did not love it you didn’t get it.”
I went to catch up with the other students who told me they were excited to see it, and I was horrified to know that Judy Li actually did not see it over break like she said she would. But, she informed me that Senior Ryan Galbraith did..maybe even multiple times.
When speaking to Ryan, she said she loved Wicked. “I have already seen it twice and I want to see it again this weekend,” she said. She admitted that she thought she would have issues with the pacing in the movie since they stretched out Act 1 to be longer, but she actually really liked how it allowed the story to kinda breathe. “I thought it was almost even better than the stage production,” she said.
Her favorite song has always been “Dancing Through Life,” but she said “the movie’s version of ‘No One Mourns The Wicked’ really stuck with me and it was such a banger way to start the movie, so that was probably my favorite scene.” She also said that “Defining Gravity” was insane.
For Ryan, the movie was better than she expected. She admitted she was very disappointed by Mean Girls earlier this year, so she kept her hopes down going in and came out really surprised and happy.
The last time I talked to Ryan, she told me she was seeing Gladiator the same weekend, so I had to know whether it was a successful movie mashup. “Watching Gladiator II and then Wicked kinda gave me whiplash, but I had fun,” she said. “They are hard movies to compare and rank, being so different. I really enjoyed Gladiator II, but if you asked me right now which movie I would rather sit down and rewatch, I would say Wicked all the way.”
It is safe to say that the Wicked film was a success. After the movie came out my social media was full of people learning the iconic dance choreography, singing to the songs, and praising the actors/actresses.
Over the weekend in New York there was even a “Boqfest” where people who believed they looked like Boq, the love interest of Elphaba’s younger sister (Nessa), congregated to pick the winner of the look-alike contest.
Wicked is really bringing out people’s inner theater kid. Speaking of theater kids…you can bet your life on it that Ryan, Alaysia, and I all enjoyed the film, so much so that you will be seeing us in the theater on November 21, 2025 watching Wicked, Part Two!
My broom is ready.
