Get ready for Wicked!

The new Wicked movie is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, and it opens in Theaters in one week! Wicked is a movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, which is the 4th longest-running show in Broadway history. The musical first premiered in 2003 starring legends Kristen Chenoweth, who can be recognized from her role as Maleficent in Descendants, and Idina Menzel who is widely known for her role as Elsa in Frozen. The musical is based on the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire, written in 1995. He was inspired to write the story because of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and because of the iconic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland.

The story of Wicked follows the unlikely friendship and story of misunderstood Elphaba and popular and beautiful Glinda. It is throughout revealed how Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and how Glinda becomes the Good Witch. The new movie stars singer sensation Ariana Grande as Glinda, Broadway legend Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, and many other well-known actors such as Johnathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. Something very special about the film is that Ariana and Cynthia both sing live, which is extremely uncommon to do. Most movie musicals have a soundtrack, and during filming, the actors just lip-sync. Cynthia stated in an interview that they chose to sing live because “It meant that we would be further connected to the words we were saying and to each other”.

I am so extremely excited to see the movie because of my love for Wicked. I was lucky enough to see the Broadway tour in Austin for my birthday earlier this year, and it was the most incredible experience. After the show I was able to get the autograph from the actress who played Elphaba, it can be seen in the picture attached! I was curious how many of my peers at McMurry were also planning on seeing the film, and out of 42 people, 45% said yes, 29% said maybe, and the other 26% said no. If you are going to see the movie, I highly recommend watching The Wizard of Oz or watching videos about Wicked so that you have context and can enjoy the film more!