Since I had not read anything about the movie “Wicked” before seeing it this past weekend, I was surprised that the movie carried such an obvious message about race relations in America.
Ariana Grande plays the good witch, Glenda, who is a privileged white female who admits she is spoiled in a comical moment. Cynthia Erivo, plays Elphaba, the bad witch who was born green. From her birth, Elphaba was discriminated against and within the context of society in the “Wicked” world, she was treated as an outcast.
Cynthia Erivo’s performance was exceptional. There’s no guarantee that a popular singer can act, but Ariana Grande's singing and her acting were excellent. Part of her anatomy was exposed and it has a lot of people commenting. Ariana Grande’s chest bones were clearly visible causing many to think she needs to eat a cheeseburger and fries. Clearly a bit gaunt, there is a lot of speculation about Ariana’s weight loss. Even her face is a lot thinner than recently in her career.
Bowen Yang from “Saturday Night Live” played one of Glenda’s fun playmates and was part of a cast that seemed dominated by gay men dancing and frolicking through the movie.
Honestly, the movie was too long but it is redeemed by the movie’s message. The running time is 2 hour and 40 minutes, and when it comes to attention span, that’s a challenge for anyone, especially for anyone younger who is going to see the movie. Sitting next to me in the theater was a mother and a young girl about 5 years old, and she was restless, and I can understand why. There were times when the story line in got lost in the visual kaleidoscope of musical pageantry that filled the screen or during the quiet times of setting up the story. In more common terms - sometimes, the movie dragged.
Even so, the message of the movie was powerful. There were references that related to the current political climate in America, like when the Wizard of Oz, played by Jeff Goldblum, said “the best way to bring people together is to give them an enemy.” That’s not a new theory, but it relates to both political sides declaring the opposing party more than just an opposing party - the opposing parties were presented as the enemy during the campaign.
In “Wicked,” human-talking animals were equal characters and there was an effort to depict them as unequal and Oz actually turned the people against the animals.
There was another message that I picked up on about dealing with feelings that you don’t belong in any situation or in life, in general. The message was just follow the road in front of you.
“Wicked” is #1 at the box office and that’s not surprising considering the massive hype before the opening, but I was not enthralled with the movie and it might be best to wait until you can watch it in the comfort of your own home where you can pause it when it gets slow and go make another drink or get a snack.
The movie does not end with THE END - “Wicked” is obvious with the closing: “To be continued.”
