In 2012, it was announced that there would be a film adaptation of the first act of the Broadway musical “Wicked.” It was to be the first part of a two-part series. The release date was Nov. 22, 2024, and the interest continued to stack up as the date approached. There was a lot of controversy and expectations involved going into this release: the movie poster, dolls, the cast, and more. However, despite the low expectations and the skepticism going in, it seems that the producers knew what they were getting into. Some students at HHS, like Holdyn Westberry (11), even say the film is “better than the musical.”
One aspect of the film people were worried about is that the first part of this two-part series is almost three hours long, which is longer than the entire original Broadway show. However, it seems to have gone over well, especially with fans who really loved the film like HHS Freshman Jake Weaver. “I would’ve stayed for 6 hours if it was that long,” he says.
Something else a lot of people were worried about was doing the musical justice. The ones who were especially concerned were those who already loved the musical edition. They had a good reason to be concerned too. There’s a bad record of musical-to-film adaptations, including “Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats,” “Nine,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and more. Because of this, many fans had low hopes and expected them to butcher the film as well as ruin the magic the musical has. However, so far, they have truly lived up to the magic of the show. They have been utilizing a surprising number of practical sets, such as a real tulip field and a 16-ton train, rather than using CGI. HHS student and theater enthusiast Sarah Johnson (11) had this very same concern until she saw the film. “It was surprisingly and shockingly good,” she says. Overall, the HHS student opinions have been glowing, despite some reservations.
One of the earliest reservations with the announcement of “Wicked” was the cast choice. Grammy-winning pop singer, Ariana Grande, was given the role of Glinda. This resulted in mixed reactions, some doubting her skills and finding it difficult to separate the singer from the actor. However, Grande found this to be ridiculous, considering some of her early career was on Broadway and in Hollywood. Grande said on the podcast Sentimental Men, “It has to be earned, anything on this scale. Of course, it’s Wicked, that’s the most respectable thing. That has to be earned! … I felt a little bit of the initial nervousness, or the sort of preconceived notions about what I might be able to deliver or not deliver, or why I would be wrong or whatever.”
Her co-star, Cynthia Erivo, was cast as Elphaba. There was less of a reaction to this, but still, there was some talk following the announcement. Considering the lack of Black women playing the coveted role, Erivo doubted she would receive the role. However, she has the acting experience as well as the voice to nail the role and was pleasantly surprised to receive it.
In a 90-second video released by Xfinity on November 12th, they feature Erivo wiping tears from her eyes as Director Jon M. Chu reveals the casting news, “The world needs to see more of you, and we would love for you to be our Elphaba.”
During an interview with Rolling Stones as a part of their musicians-on-musicians segment, Erivo says, “I’ve been speaking to Jon Chu, our director, and he is finishing the last shot of the film, putting it all together…I’m just really excited. We’ve worked through the soundtrack — me and [Ariana Grande] have been working hard. We’re just excited for it to all come together, for people to see it. I’m very excited.” Both actresses have the beautiful voices to fulfill the roles and luckily for the theater veterans watching, they remained faithful to their source and sang live. It was a pleasant surprise to Branson Hill (12). “They really made sure to stick to the original,” she says.
At the beginning of November, toy company Mattel released Elphaba and Glinda dolls from the upcoming musical-turned-movie. These dolls were highly praised. However, after just a few days in stores, a misprint was discovered. Instead of a link listed to the official movie website, Mattel printed a link to a pornographic website. Within the weekend, Mattel recalled thousands of the dolls and made them unavailable to order on online purchasing websites such as Amazon, Target and Walmart. Mattel told the public shortly after the recalls began, “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is inappropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.”
Another large controversy that has arisen from “Wicked” marketing is the creative decisions concerning the film’s promotional poster. Lead actresses, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, paid a homage to the original “Wicked” illustration. Though the new poster was well-received, a fan under the username @midosommar created their version of the poster with artificial intelligence (AI). In their poster, Grande only covers her mouth slightly, instead of the majority of her face covered, like in the original illustration. Lead actress Erivo takes a different approach from the illustration and looks down the center of the camera, making contact with the viewer and having her full face visible.
The fan edited the poster so that Erivo’s eyes are covered entirely, and Grande is covering her face with her hand, causing both women to look nearly unidentifiable. Erivo went to Instagram with her disapproval.
Erivo wrote, “This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘Is your p—- green.’ None of this is funny. None of it is cute. It degrades me. It degrades us…The original poster is an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real-life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer… because, without words we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.”
Grande was asked by Variety about her views on the controversy. Grande said, “I think it’s very complicated because I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s just kind of such a massive adjustment period. This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits. I have so much respect for my sister, Cynthia, and I love her so much. It’s just a big adjustment period. It’s so much stimulation about something that’s so much bigger than us.”
Overall, the audience’s reactions to the movie were quite positive, unlike the responses during the promotional period. Both Erivo and Grande had big shoes to fill, and they understood their impact with the roles given, with audience reviews the actresses have earned their approval. The second part of the movie is much anticipated, and fans eagerly await its arrival on November 21st, 2025.
