Despite more than a year of build-up and an exhaustive – some might say exhausting – press tour that rivaled a Marvel movie in budget, there were still many people who did not know that Wicked, now the most successful film adaptation of a Broadway musical of all time, is actually one half of a pair.
To be fair to those who do not follow the entertainment industry, Universal billed the 2hr 40min film, which opens with Ariana Grande’s Glinda the Good Witch promising to tell the “whole story” of her long-lost friend Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), as just Wicked, not by its title card, Wicked: Part One. And Jon M Chu’s first act concludes with a wildly cathartic, very CGI-ed rendition of Defying Gravity – the rare musical tune to transcend theater-kid fandom and probably the one thing non-Wicked fans would know about the show.
The split, which engendered some skepticism among fans and critics, has not deterred audiences; Wicked made more than $359m in two weekends, smashing a host of musical and holiday-related box office records.
The Wicked faithful and newly converted – my screening was full of young girls born long after the musical premiered in 2003 – will not have to wait too long to see how Elphaba and Glinda end up on opposite sides of the East/West, Good/Wicked divide. Wicked: Part Two is slated for 21 November 2025, a day short of a year after Part One premiered. This is not a Dune situation, where Part Two was greenlit only after a misleadingly titled Part One proved its mettle at the box office; both Wickeds were filmed together over five months on soundstages in the UK (plus an extra 10 days earlier this year, owing to the Hollywood strikes), ensuring that the cast – also including Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang, Jonathan Bailey and Ethan Slater – will remain intact for both parts.
Part One, written by Winnie Holzman (who wrote the book for the musical) and Dana Fox, hewed closely to the original stage version, not cutting any songs and expanding some scenes. Part Two, which picks up after the stage version’s intermission, was also adapted by Holzman and Fox, and thus will probably also mirror the leaner, darker second act of the musical. (It’s been 21 years of Wicked on Broadway, but spoilers ahead … )
While part one functions mostly as prequel, taking place before a misunderstood Elphaba becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, Part Two is more revisionist fable, playing out in parallel to the events of L Frank Baum’s 1900 novel and the classic 1939 film adaptation. Elphaba exits the Emerald City in both exile and triumph, having summoned her full powers and learned the hideous truth of the Wizard’s (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible’s (Michelle Yeoh) embrace of fascism at the expense of vulnerable scapegoats. (The musical, at turns saccharine and impassioned, is not subtle on the politics, and neither is Chu’s movie).
Part Two, assuming Chu once again remains faithful to the musical’s plot (itself loosely based on the novel by Gregory Maguire), picks up some time later, when Something Bad has fully manifested in Oz, with a much swifter timeline as well as origin stories for the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. “If Part 1 is about choices, Part 2 is about consequences,” Chu told Entertainment Weekly. “Choices are difficult to make, but when you do make those choices, sometimes the result isn’t what you expect it to be. It can be lonely, it can be hard.” And those choices have become “eight times more relevant” in the context of recent political and social events, Chu teased to Variety, calling Part Two, at least thematically, a “doozy”.
Despite the resonantly dark material, Chu has assured that Part Two will keep some of the first part’s levity, as best embodied by the buoyant, near-confectionary presence of Grande. “There is lots of lightness in the movie,” he told EW. “There’s a lot of fun parts. We’ve not forgotten about that, but there’s a matureness and a nuance to it that we earn from the first movie.”
One of the musical’s weaknesses was that its second act lacked the musical firepower of its first, which contained not only Defying Gravity but theater-kid karaoke staples such as Popular, Dancing Through Life and The Wizard and I. Act two has For Good, arguably the show’s best duet, as well as a few reprisals. Chu seems to have anticipated the need for balance; Stephen Schwartz confirmed that Part Two will include two new songs.
There are other anticipated areas of expansion. Part One included a shot from behind of Dorothy and her ragtag crew, and the trailer included an as-yet unused shot of them before the Wizard, suggesting screen time for characters who are not seen in the stage version. (Chu, for his part, has said: “There is interaction and some crossover.”)
Another teaser image shows Glinda in what appears to be a wedding gown, a development outside the scope of the original show. And while Part One contained the bulk of significant cameos – including original stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as Schwartz (as an Emerald City guard) and Holzman (as a member of an acting troupe) – Part Two will likely contain at least a few names for Broadway and West End fans to spot.
Given the extensive promotion for Part One, I assume we will have answers to some questions (and cameos) before next Thanksgiving. But only time will tell whether Part Two can cast as strong a box office spell as the dubiously marketed Part One.