Wicked: For Good

Yes, it’s more of the same. But this one hits differently.

Picking up where we left off, in real time, just about a year ago, we step back into the spectacle that is Oz. Glinda is about to marry the not too excited Piyero. And Elphaba is out there somewhere, flying around, creating havoc. But while Oz may, at least on the surface, look familiar, the real world this movie is entering is not. Sure, there’s the whole friendship plot. And that is probably more than enough for many. But, not so far beneath all the fancy surface here is something far more potent. The “good witch” seems happy to consent to the omnipotent Wizard of Oz, turning her heavily made up cheek to his mandated segregation that has torn apart friendships she used to cherish. The “bad witch” is determined to take The Wizard down, knowing he is a fraud, incapable of leadership. There’s even a song about loving your country and not wanting to leave it.

Many may cry as the two women (minor spoiler alert) sing of their appreciation for one another. But it was the number about our love of home that did it for me.

Don’t get all crazy, declaring this is a “woke” Wicked. The story’s political, economic and social roots go back all the way to the original novel. That was published in 1900.

This film is savvy in its appreciation of its origins, as well as what it takes to please a modern day audience. The story in this part two does get a little convoluted, but it also mixes a good dose of real emotion with the super splashy sets and effects. I, for one, perhaps, preferred when all that excess was stripped away, allowing the very fine Jonathan Bailey, a lovely Ariana Grande and the incomparable Cynthia Erivo to take to the stage and make this Wicked much more than good.