A Bewitching ‘Wicked’

[Following the Yellow Brick Road]

So when Bunch had an opportunity to see an early screening of the new film adaptation of the wildly popular musical “Wicked,” which premiered onstage in 2003, he jumped. Bunch shared some of his takeaways from the movie with Maryland Today. (Spoiler alert: He loved it.)

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande cast a spell. “They’re both fantastic in the roles” of Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba and Glinda the Good, respectively, said Bunch. “They bring their own style to it, but the whole thing is very faithful to the stage show.” Bunch noted that Jeff Goldblum’s trademark winking hamminess “kind of works for the role of the Wizard, because he’s the consummate showman,” and that Michelle Yeoh “is a really striking Madame Morrible,” the conniving headmistress of Shiz University, Elphaba and Glinda’s alma mater.

The transition to film means an over-the-top “Wicked” world. The stage design of “Wicked” is spare and almost industrial; on film, the production design soars like Elphaba herself. “It expands on the world of the musical and portrays the Land of Oz in more detailed and visually stunning ways than the stage show could do,” said Bunch. “They did a really good job of evoking the spirit of the MGM film.”

Splitting the story into two films allows more time for development of characters and subplots. When “Wicked” premiered in 2003, some critics found the central relationship between the two witches at odds with a political subplot about a movement to deny the animal citizens of Oz the right to speak. “The show really does try to do a lot,” said Bunch. With more room to breathe in the film, the themes of anti-authoritarianism and the dangers of discrimination are more fleshed out.

By and large, Oz fans are “Wicked” fans. In 1995, Gregory Maguire released his novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” the source material for “Wicked.” The novel was “dark, very political, very adult, very sexual, very philosophical,” said Bunch. Some Oz purists felt that the book desecrated the original novel and film. But “Maguire himself is an absolutely charming person, so as people got to know him and his work better, he began to win over Oz fans,” said Bunch. By the time the musical debuted in 2003, Oz-ites were largely smitten. “They appreciate how ‘Wicked’ has brought a new version of Oz to new audiences.”

The urge to sing along is strong, but maybe stay quiet during the screening. Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that some fans are joining in on hits like “Popular” and “For Good.” Bunch “felt a couple of ways about that,” he said. “When I think about the American musical, I think about singing as a way of making yourself heard.” That’s especially true in “Wicked,” in which the ruling class is attempting to stop the animal characters from speaking. Still, Bunch said, that freedom to express oneself in musicals is “true for characters onstage, but not necessarily people in the audience.” He encourages mega-fans to wait for special sing-along screenings of the film for their chance to show off their range.

Plus, the songs in “Wicked” are vocally challenging. “When people sing along to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or ‘The Sound of Music,’ those have really accessible songs that people can sing,” said Bunch. “I’ll be very interested to see if an audience can handle ‘Defying Gravity.’ I think it will be a glorious mess.”