Fans of the onstage musical may note certain alterations in the popular Wicked narrative, which recently made its big screen premiere.
The friendship between Elphaba and Glinda, two witches made famous by the Wizard of Oz, is the basis for both the film and musical adaptations of Wicked, which are based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book.
There are two parts to the Wicked movie adaption. The events and songs of Act 1 of the musical are followed in the first film, which debuted in theaters on November 22.November 2025 is when Wicked: Part 2 is anticipated.
“I approached making the film adaptation from a very specific perspective,” director Jon M. Chu tells TODAY.com.
He mentions the 2003 tryout performances of the musical before it debuted at the Gershwin Theatre, saying, “I saw it for the first time in San Francisco before it made it to Broadway.” Defying Gravity, What Is This Feeling and Glinda’s descent in the bubble are like fundamental memories. Throughout the years, these things remained with me.
Chu continues, “I feel like I channel that first time seeing it.”
When Wicked debuted on Broadway in October 2003, composer Stephen Schwartz and screenplay writer Winnie Holzman said they couldn’t have imagined the show would still be going strong in November 2003, let alone a movie adaptation.
However, as they reached November 2003 and the play was successful, we knew it would eventually become a movie, adds Schwartz.
So, for twenty years, Winnie and I in particular have been discussing, “Well, what if we do this in the movie?” Perhaps we ought to give that a shot. According to Schwartz. We’ve been considering it for a while, but telling our story in the film was our top priority.
From the soundtrack to Act 1 of the musical, the first Wicked movie stays true to the original. According to composer Stephen Schwartz, all of the tracks are authentic to the original Broadway cast recording, with the exception of one song expansion.
Devoted Wicked fans, however, could notice a few little adjustments.
Chu points out that his intention was to recreate the feelings I had at the time, even if what transpired on screen wasn’t exactly what happened on stage.
He explains, “I tried to do that in the movie, what it felt like was happening.”
Here are some facts regarding the distinctions between the musical and the movie Wicked.
The length
The film lasts more than two and a half hours, which is almost as lengthy as the entire Broadway performance, even though it is only a part of the well-known musical.
According to Schwartz, this particular film is lengthier than the first act. Although it is as long as our entire performance, it is comparable to the first act in terms of storytelling.
According to Holzman, Chu was quite certain of the choice to divide the film in two. She claims that after then, she was free to pause any parts of the musical that could have flown by too rapidly.
According to Holzman, there were numerous times that we genuinely wanted to capture.
Schwartz continues, “Give them a chance to breathe.”
According to Schwartz, it would have been difficult to try to put the entire Wicked musical into a single movie.
It was wonderful not to feel like, “Oh, we just don’t have time,” at every scene and musical moment, he says. It was incredibly motivating once that weight was removed.
Holzman and Schwartz both contributed new scenes and songs to Part 1 that were not included in the final film.
According to him, we took great care to ensure that whatever we extended was additive and not padded.
An expanded backstory for Elphaba and Nessarose
No One Mourns the Wicked, the opening song of both the musical and the film Wicked, delves into Elphaba’s past. Glinda sings the song, which describes how Elphaba’s mother had an affair after drinking a green elixir, which resulted in the birth of a child with a tinted skin tone. Elphaba’s father doesn’t want anything to do with her after she is born.
Nevertheless, the film pauses to depict her early years. The kid is raised by Elphaba’s nanny, a bear named Dulcibear, who promised to take care of her after she was born. Additionally, her connection with her younger sister Nessarose is examined in greater detail.
Holzman remarks of the Wicked musical that “there are things that go past in lightning speed, like the two sisters.” You miss their talk when you first meet them if you blink.
A scene in the film shows Elphaba being teased as a child because of the way she looks. By demonstrating Elphaba’s ability to defend herself when the children cause her sister to cry, it also builds a loving and protective bond with Nessarose.
In the movie, Nessarose, portrayed by Marissa Bode, also declares her independence. “Even though you already know that you can, your character goes off to attend Shiz University to be on your own and prove to yourself that you can,” explains Bode, the first actor to play Nessarose, who uses a wheelchair in real life.
Elphaba, a student in the musical, is sent to Shiz with the explicit directive to take care of her sister. However, Elphaba isn’t enrolled in the film and only remains after she unintentionally utilizes her powers and attracts Madame Morrible’s attention (Michelle Yeoh).
More details on the Grimmerie
One Short Day features a noteworthy addition, even if the majority of the songs from the Wicked movie soundtrack are also on the musical.
As Glinda and Elphaba go to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz, the song tracks their journey. To the surprise of Broadway fans, the film adaptation of One Short Day has brand-new musical numbers performed by Kristin Chenoweth, the original Glinda, and Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba.
They sing some of their well-known riffs and playfully compete for attention during the cameo.
As members of the Emerald City Players company, Menzel and Chenoweth portray legendary Wise Ones who recorded their spells in a book called the Grimmerie.
Elphaba’s transformation into a witch and the unlocking of her powers are ultimately made possible by the Grimmerie, and the film goes into greater detail about how this led to the Wizard taking over.
The Wise Ones’ prophecy states that a strong character who can read the Grimmerie will emerge and take control of Oz during his darkest moment. When he arrived in Oz in a hot air balloon, that individual turned out to be the Wizard. Can he read the Grimmerie now? That is a different matter.
Wizard of Oz Easter eggs
Although Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Part 1 of the movie has more references to both the 1939 movie and L. Frank Baum’s story.
The movie clearly places the plot in time with The Wizard of Oz, even though both the musical and the film begin with the upbeat musical song No One Mourns the Wicked, which is set after the Wicked Witch of the West’s death.
The voice of Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, declares the Wicked Witch of the West dead in the film’s opening sequence. In homage to how the witch dissolved in the 1939 movie after Dorothy flung a pail of water at her, the camera pans to a black witch’s hat resting on top of a pool of water.
We enter a scene of a crime. Chu explains, “We drop into a puddle of water, not a big musical number.” Returning us to the location where we left Oz, the scene of the crime, seemed crucial to me.
Oz takes center stage after that. The audience witnesses a person riding a horse out of a castle. Then the camera pans to the yellow brick road, as the figures of Dorothy and her companions follow the path toward the Emerald City.
The focus then moves into Munchkinland, and the opening notes of No One Mourns the Wicked kick in.
The film alters a scene to include poppy flowers in yet another nod to Wizard of Oz. After Dr. Dillamond is removed from his teaching position, a new teacher brings in a lion cub to teach a lesson on cages. Elphaba, noticing the cub is trembling, casts a spell in the musical to cause chaos and help rescue the animal.
But in the movie, Elphaba accidentally uses poppy flowers to put everyone in the classroom except for herself and Jonathan Bailey s Fiyero to sleep. Then, they rescue the cub and set him free in the wild.
The poppies seem to foreshadow a scene in the The Wizard of Oz when the four main characters Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion travel through a field of the same flowers. In the story, both Dorothy and the Lion fall asleep.
Later, once Elphaba and Glinda are in Oz, the Wizard shows them his vision of the city, including a long winding road. He runs through several options for the color of the pathway, and Glinda ultimately suggests making the brick road yellow.
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