‘Wicked’ Songwriter Stephen Schwartz on Why the Movie Must Be a Two-Parter: Nothing Can Follow ‘Defying Gravity’

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticAccording to Stephen Schwartz, nothing can follow “Defying Gravity.” And for the “Wicked” songwriter, that’s one key reason why the movie version of his blockbuster Broadway musical has to be split into two parts.It’s not just about overall length, the composer is saying — it’s about the audience needing a breather after one of the great Act 1 closers of all time. (Even if that breather is 12 months of moviegoers going on with their daily business, versus 20 minutes cooling their heels outside a Broadway house.)“We found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break,” Schwartz says. “That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic.” Schwartz made the comment regarding “Defying Gravity” in a statement he released to “The Schwartz Scene,” a fan newsletter.

He had other reasons to agree with the decision to split “Wicked” in two, with the films currently set for release on two successive days well into the future: Dec.

25, 2024 and Dec. 25, 2025.“The truth is we tried for some time to make it one movie, even if it had to be one very long movie,” Schwartz said in his statement to the newsletter. “But we kept running into two problems.

The first is that even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate.” The second reason, as he explained it, came down to the show-stopper number, and the inability for what comes at the beginning of Act 2 to escape its gravitational pull.“So, for these two reasons,” Schwartz continued, “plus the excitement of.