Twenty years since the first Broadway performance of Wicked, the first-ever movie-musical has made it to the big screen. Wicked the Musical is a prequel to the original 1939 Wizard of Oz and focuses on the two witches and how they came to be, Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West. The new two-part movie-musical, which stars Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba will be released on November 22, 2025. With the immense amount of branding attached to this movie with makeup products, dolls, Starbucks drinks, and clothes, this movie has generated a lot of excitement among fans.
Julia Schmidt ‘26 who has originally seen this musical live on Broadway twice, got tickets to an early screen on November 18th. As a long-time fan with extremely high expectations, they were immediately blown out of the water. She shares, “The movie was incredible and I will definitely be seeing it at least 5 more times in theaters.”
Galinda and Elphaba together in the new movie, Wicked (Angelica Vera)
Many people are excited to watch the musical hit the big screen. As Wicked is Gabe Scotton’s ‘25 all-time favorite Broadway musical and he has seen it twice, he is looking forward to the movie because “Cynthia Erivo is a powerhouse who will do the role justice. And Ariana Grande has dreamed of being Glinda since she was a kid, so I feel like the two of them will truly give it their all.”
Abigail Sebastian ‘25 has been waiting for this movie for years and is thrilled it is finally coming out. When Abigail saw Wicked the musical live for the first time she was stunned by how amazing it was. Abigail says “I’ve already seen so many people cry watching the musical, so I’m sure that the magic of the movie will do just that. I love this show so much. When I saw it a couple of years ago, my jaw was on the floor the entire time.”
According to PEOPLE.com, Grande and Erivo agreed to sing live on set to bring a further connection between the two which is almost unheard of for a movie-musical. “I think it will truly be a one-of-a-kind movie because of this unique feature” expresses Ella Damratoski ‘25.
Though there is an immense amount of anticipation for this movie there are worries from viewers. Gabe Scotton is concerned about “the general color grading of the film, because the original Wizard of Oz movie is so bright and colorful, and I think that also is a major part of the musical, so I hope that everything isn’t so dulled down in a movie that has a lot of wondrous moments.”
According to the director, Jon M. Chu’s Twitter, fitting everything into one movie would not allow enough depth into the characters they wanted. So, the movie will be split into two parts and the first movie will take effect as Act 1.
Audiences are anxious to see how the story will flesh out “because the musical is very simple and there are so many characters to develop, so I’m hoping that the two-part movie gives them time to build the world and strengthen the plot,” Scotton expresses. Viewers initially were upset hearing it would only be the first half of the musical but like Sebastian, they are excited to see what they add in the second movie coming out later.
With all the rave from the premiere of Wicked, the directors have been praised for their ability to beautifully turn a Broadway musical into a movie with an outstanding rotten tomato score of ninety-one percent.
