‘Wicked’ is Overstuffed and Undercooked

metroweekly.com:

Wicked by the self-proclaimed princess of “Popular,” Galinda, and it applies to people, places, films, film reviews, and the musical Wicked.Over the course of the show’s journey through Oz, Galinda eventually becomes Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, sworn foe of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, formerly her friend.The Tony-winning tale of their rivalry turned friendship turned feud, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, adapts the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire (itself a riff on the Oz characters created by L.

Frank Baum, and made iconic in the 1939 MGM musical) into a teenage fantasy-romance promoting tolerance, individuality, and female empowerment.Opening on Broadway in 2003, the show is still running, the national tour and international productions still sell out, and the fanbase is fervently anticipating the big-budget film adaptation directed by Jon M.

Chu (In the Heights), starring Cynthia Erivo as green-skinned outcast Elphaba and Ariana Grande as bubbly blonde Glinda, who meet as classmates at Shiz University.

The property’s enduring popularity can’t be denied.But to those of us who prefer the adult tone and political complexity of Maguire’s novel, or have little affinity for Schwartz’s Disneyfied score, Wicked is an okay musical, and Chu’s visual effects-driven spectacle does little to enhance the experience.One major step in the right direction, though, is the casting of Erivo, the film’s most special effect, as rising rebel Elphaba.The Tony, Emmy, and Grammy-winning performer’s voice soars through big-belting numbers like “The Wizard and I,” girded by her achingly sincere expression of Elphaba’s sheer unpopularity.Born a shocking shade of pea, poor Elphie has been.