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This week at the Tryon Theatre is “Wicked” (Chu 2024), the big musical of this year’s holiday season, chock full of catchy and emotionally moving songs. This film is an adaptation of the broadway musical Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz (2003), written by Stephen Schwartz. Schwartz’s musical was received to vocal and broad acclaim, both critical and commercial, winning three Tony awards and the cast album itself winning a Grammy award. The filmic adaptation has premiered to an equally stellar reception, with audiences and critics alike celebrating its powerful performances and earnestly skillful translation to the silver screen.

Being an adaptation of an over twenty year old musical, the characters and relative narrative of this film are likely well known by the majority of potential audience members. However, for those unfamiliar with the story, this film takes the viewer once more back to the land of Oz, and its capital The Emerald City, set well before the events of Frank L. Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz”, before the witches of that story had earned their titles of “Good” or “Wicked”. The narrative focuses on two young soon-to-be-witches pursuing their magical education, as their paths are brought together by fate, Elphaba and Galinda. Elphaba is an immediate oddball, her green skin earning snide remarks and judgement, while Galinda is already beloved by her peers and teachers, favored to succeed. 

These two disparate students are assigned to a room together, and soon their burgeoning powers and personalities take shape, both in union with and in contrast to one another. This film explores the early friendship that once defined their dynamic, as well the path to mutual disillusion that finds them in diametric opposition, later in life, the highs and the lows captured in emotive and magical music. 

The two dominant performances in “Wicked” which have been so lauded are those of its two leads, Cynthia Erivo, playing Elphaba, and Ariana Grande, playing Galinda. Both of these actors have been excellently cast in their roles, with the strength and range of their respective voices being central to their success. “Wicked” is first and foremost a musical, with the talent’s talent for vocal work being the dominant quality sought in casting. Both Erivo and Grande perform their numbers beautifully, passion and pitch in perfect union, injecting the songs with all the powerful pathos needed to stir the audience’s hearts. 

On an important note of scheduling, “Wicked” will run for two weeks, covering both the week of Christmas and the week of New Year’s. In observation of those holidays, we will be closed Wednesday, December 25th and closed Wednesday, January 1st.