After just over a year-long wait, the much-anticipated Wicked: For Good released on November 21, 2025, amassing over $147 million during its opening weekend at the box office.
Musical theater has always been a pillar in my life. For as long as I can remember, I have annoyed my family with belting showtunes and fangirling over the Tony´s each season. I have a deep-rooted love for musicals that borders on nerdy and obsessive. I started doing musicals when I was just eight years old, and through it, I found a sense of self and community that was overwhelming.
In the summer of 2022, I saw my first Broadway musical: Wicked. In a way that didn’t even seem possible, this musical filled me with even more love and appreciation for theater. The innovative choreography, enchanting melodies, heartwarming themes of friendship and radicalized morality are just a few of the things that make this musical unique.
The first movie was exceptional, but with controversies surrounding the cast and the press tour, I was weary about the quality of the second movie. With many rumors circulating of competitive eating disorders and a mistreatment of the cast members on set, I was worried that a story that means so much to me would leave something to be desired.
To my delight, my fears were laid to rest. The movie was everything and more that I was hoping for in the second installment of the story.
Adapting a beloved Broadway musical, a groundbreaking phenomenon for its time at that, is not an easy task; however, John Chu uses an innovative combination of breath-taking color mixed with an awe-inspiring score to build the whimsical setting of Oz. Rather than using CGI to build landscapes, Chu planted over 9 million tulips to fill the opening sequence. Production designer, Nathan Crowley, took creative risks and chose to focus on building massive practical set builds such as the iconic Shiz University and Emerald City. Dedication to details in the setting like this help to make this movie stand out while building on the enchantment of the stage production.
One aspect of this film that cannot be overlooked is the dedication and performance of the actors. The cast breathed a new life into the story by incorporating new complex emotions in songs and performing demanding choreography numbers. The film would not be the same without the incredible performances of the leads: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. In a show that has been reprised numerous times both of these women bring a freshness to their respective roles. Erivo incorporates new riffs and harmonies into her powerful ballads that tug on viewers heartstrings, while Grande’s humorous approach to the character carries the message of the story through even the most depressing of moments. These two are phenomenal together, bouncing off each other with electric chemistry. Through their shared moments they are able to build to the themes of friendship and sisterhood in a natural way.
The film amplifies the themes of the original Broadway production, enriching the narrative through new songs that add emotional and storytelling layers that I genuinely enjoyed. These additions deepen the understanding of the characters’ motivations and heighten the stakes of their journeys. The casting of Erivo, the first time a Black woman has portrayed Elphaba, introduces powerful new undertones related to discrimination and prejudice. Her presence brings added resonance to Elphaba’s struggle against societal bias, making the story’s commentary on otherness and injustice feel even more culturally significant.
While there are a few aspects of the movie that fell a little short such as the performance of Michelle Yeoh, who has received ample criticism online about her quality of singing and acting, and a few moments of low-grade CGI, overall the movie is a stand out that captures the original creative vision of the Broadway version.
The highlight of the film for me is the closing song “For Good.” The audience held their breaths as a sweeping feeling of bittersweet joy filled the theater. This show, which has redefined theater since its debut in 2003, was coming to a close in a grand testament of cinema. As I listened to Erivo and Grande sing this emotional ballad I felt tears begin to stream down my face. A story that I have loved for as long as I can remember and has helped me define friendships in my own life came to life before my eyes.
I know it might be silly. A movie about a fantasy world, a green witch, and songs about being “Popular” means so much to me. But the truth is that Wicked matters.
