By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Released Friday 22 November 2024 RUNTIME: 165 minutes

Q: How does the 1st act of a beloved stage show lasting 90 minutes or so become a compelling film of almost 3 hours?

• Read on for reasons including how this is visualised with such flair that musical theatre fans should be enthralled

A: Wicked (Part 1) chooses to use the extra time afforded it to delve ever deeper into the origins of what is essentially a prequel to the classic 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz starring Judy Garland.

The story centres on Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba who is born green and becomes the Wicked Witch Of The West and her friendship with Ariana Grande’s Galinda who will be Glinda The Good.

We join them at school where they initially don’t get on and while the feel is very Harry Potter it soon becomes clear that this is Potter with a point as we learn that the Wizard’s dark forces are seeking to make literal scapegoats of Oz’s talking animals in an attempt to both deny them a voice and subjugate them.

Elphaba’s grasp of magic brings her to the attention of the school’s sorcery tutor Madame Morrible, given a convincing turn by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, and the scene is set for our heroine to meet the Wizard Of Oz for Defying Gravity, the song that closes the 1st act of the musical.

Erivo has been nominated for an Oscar herself, we saw her in X Factor musical I Can’t Sing at the Palladium and mr monstagigz even caught her on Broadway in The Color Purple.

She doesn’t disappoint here as the misfit maximising her flaws and challenging those in authority she believes to be acting unjustly.

Grande convinces as the Mean Girl who makes fun of Elphie and bullies the goat tutor who calls her Glinda because he can’t quite pronounce her actual name – Galinda – correctly.

We’re unashamed to say we had tears in our eyes at 2 moments during this film, the 1st being when the goat tutor discovers some hate speech directed towards him on the blackboard he is teaching from.

The 2nd was when Elphie tries to style out the mockery she is facing from her classmates instigated by Galinda when she makes an ill-informed headwear choice on her roomate’s advice.

There are plenty of appearances from West End folk including the voice of Sharon D Clarke (Lost Boys And Fairies and The Importance Of Being Earnest, National Theatre) as Elphie’s nurse, Keala Settle (& Juliet, Shaftesbury Theatre) as the school’s cowardly headteacher and Jonathan Bailey (COCK, Ambassadors Theatre) as dim hunk Fiyero.

It’s Fiyero’s journey from song Dancing Through Life, given a charismatic Queen-ish turn here, to Elphie-supporting activist that is perhaps 1 of this musical’s most affecting journeys and Bailey treats it with both appropriate devil-may-care attitude and utter seriousness.

We’re never in doubt that the need to confront injustice coarses through Erivo’s Elphie veins and her need to act when she discovers Madame Morrible’s treachery and Jeff Goldblum’s manipulative Trumpian Wizard.

The expansion of Wicked the musical into 2 films is perhaps recognition of how much plot there is but also gives a brilliant opportunity for the material to be expanded upon and visualised with such flair that should enthral musical theatre fans and audiences of all ages.

Best film of the year so far? Check out our shortlist.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Wicked (Part 1) Tickets
• Have you seen a Wicked show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook