Our Guide to the ‘Wicked’ Mov ie’s Best and Biggest Moments

This Week

Everything you need to know about Wicked.

The reality TV scene fans are going crazy over.

An all-time great podcast story.

An unbelievable vocal performance.

It’s Gonna Be Popular (Lar)

It’s been about 37 years since the Wickedcast began their press tour in support of the new movie adaptation of the Broadway musical. (Which is itself an adaptation of a novel. Which is inspired by a movie. That was based on a book.) But now that it’s finally in theaters, we can all talk about it instead of just speculating about it. The biggest takeaway: It’s so good! Thank goodness! Congratulotions to all involved.

I published my proper review earlier this week, which, to stay on theme with the interminable running time of the movie (2 hours and 40 minutes—one of the few legitimate things to complain about) and its endless marketing campaign, is way way too long. But hey, I’m a theater gay and this is the Wicked movie—of course I was going to ramble on overenthusiastically, whether or not people are still paying attention. In any case, read it here. (Give me those precious clicks!)

What I wanted to do here instead is offer the CliffsNotes version of the things that, if you happen to be curious about the film, you should know. In other words, what people have been asking me about in the week since I made getting to see the Wicked movie early my entire personality.

Yes, Ariana Grande really is perfect as Galinda. (The Galinda/Glinda name is a whole thing. Go ask the closest gay about it.) Because Kristin Chenoweth put such an indelible signature on the character as the original Galinda, it can be easy to simply replicate her flirts, flounces, and flourishes and still get a rousing response. Grande really shows her musical theater bonafides in the way she pays homage to the Galindas before, but very much makes the part her own with a screwball tenacity that adds a bit more sophisticated humor and grit to the part.

The film forcefully ends any discussion over whether this needed to be two parts—each act of the musical is a standalone movie—with its “Defying Gravity” finale. Director Jon M. Chu reimagines the roof-shattering number as a nearly 15-minute action sequence. Elphaba and Glinda (no longer with the “Ga”) are chased through the Wizard’s Emerald City castle, attacked by flying monkeys, attempt a hot air balloon heist, and climb up the scaffolding of a belltower, all while singing verses of the song. The battle-cry belt that is the song’s climax is actually interrupted by thrilling sequences of Elphaba zooming through the sky on her broom. There’s a scene of Grande as Glinda staring at Erivo singing as she evades flying monkeys that was so powerful, I got chills. Obviously the movie was going to end after that. You can’t just casually move on to the next scene.

Beyond the dazzling visuals, set design, and effects, there were two scenes that really drove home for me how a cinematic adaptation of the musical enriches it. The first was “What Is This Feeling?” which begins with a split-screen of Galinda and Elphaba as they duet, a film trick that amplifies the humor of the song.

The second is the Ozdust Ballroom interlude of “Dancing Through Life,” when Elphaba nervously, yet excitedly arrives, thinking she’s going to finally be accepted, only to realize that she was set up to be bullied. Chu takes his time in this scene, with each aching second that passes jackhammering at your heart even more forcefully. Erivo’s more tender, wounded approach to Elphaba really justifies itself in this sequence, matched by a guilt-ridden, heartbroken Grande.

All of the viral videos of the actresses breaking down in tears during interviews starts to make sense after you’ve seen how intense their emotional connection is during these scenes. Fellow Ozians, I cried pretty much throughout this entire section of the movie, and I am not ashamed to admit it.

And while Grande and Erivo are truly fantastic, I think the biggest buzz from moviegoers after they see this is going to be something along the lines of, “Holy hell, Jonathan Bailey!!!” Forgot whatever twister it was that brought Dorothy Gale and her witch-crushing house to Munchkinland. That’s a drizzly rain cloud compared to the seismic weather event of sexual magnetism and relentless charisma that is Bailey’s performance as Fiyero in this film.

It’s not just my embarrassing middle-school-girl-like crush on him that is saying this. It is the kind of, “Oh wow, that is a movie star” kind of revelation is so exciting and rare. His Fiyero is a self-aware pansexual cad who has giddy chemistry with every living thing he encounters, and whose charm streak is matched by an emotional intelligence we typically don’t afford daffy Prince Charming types. And you can see that he is having an absolute blast through every acrobatic dance step of “Dancing Through Life.”

Fans of the stage production will be glad to know that the movie has, to the best of its ability, “fixed” the worst part of the show: Dr. Dillamond, the professor who is also a goat who is being silenced by the government. “Something Bad” is reimagined as a puppet show that turns out to be really eerie and unsettling, making it more vital to the plotline in which Elphaba becomes radicalized. (I am bracing myself for the inevitable thinkpieces about “How the Wicked Movie Is a Timely Rallying Cry Against Fascism.”)

Yet there is one thing the movie doesn’t manage to improve. If you’re going to take a bathroom break, I heartily recommend doing it when the Wizard shows up and starts singing “A Sentimental Man.” Apologies to Jeff Goldblum, but it’s simply a snooze, arriving unfortunately at the exact time you’re going to pull out your phone and be like “OK, this movie is taking forever already…how much time is left?”

I could go on and on. (Who has 45 minutes to talk with me about the staging of “I’m Not That Girl”?) But I think these are the major talking points. If you care to find me to talk more in depth, look to the Western sky find me on social media and let’s dish.

An Iconic Reality TV Moment

That high-pitched squeal you heard Tuesday night was Bravo fans shrieking in unison at a now-iconic scene in the season premiere of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Dorit Kemsley lighting up a cigarette on camera.

The backstory is only mildly necessary for understanding why this was such a shocking serve for the once floundering cast member. After a rather boring season last year, fans had started to argue for Kemsley’s firing. Well, she has risen like a phoenix from the ashtray: She announced her separation for her husband, PK, put his years-long battle with alcoholism on blast, and decided to wage war against her former best friend and erstwhile Grand Poobah of RHOBH, Kyle Richards.

After an introduction in the premiere revealing all that drama, the cameras follow her as she careens down the canyon in her car, windows open, and lights up. For a Housewife who had been almost self-destructingly insecure about how she is portrayed on screen, manicuring and polishing her image, it was like a Bad Sandy in Grease moment: This is a woman who finally doesn’t give an eff, and is ready to burn it all to the ground in pursuit of great reality TV.

Listen, is smoking cool? Of course. Err, I mean no! Definitely not! Just say no, kids!

Oh, who are we kidding? In a three second camera shot, all of my childhood D.A.R.E. training went right out the window. I’ve never seen someone look so fabulous. And I’m not the only one who felt that way. Dorit smoking was as close as Real Housewives gets to breaking the internet. Just look at the response:

This Is How You Tell a Story on a Podcast

Everyone’s favorite Saturday Night Live cast is the one that was on the show when they first started watching regularly. So for me, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, and especially Ana Gasteyer are as iconic as it gets. But I only recently discovered that “iconic” only skims the surface when it comes to Gasteyer.

On the Las Culturistas podcast this week, Gasteyer, who is currently starring in Once Upon a Mattress on Broadway, talked about how, when she was growing up in Washington, D.C., she became childhood friends with Amy Carter, daughter of Jimmy Carter, while he was president. She would have sleepovers with her at the White House. She hung out with Anwar Sadat and his delegation while they were at Camp David to negotiate the Camp David Accords. It sounds like an unbelievable, political version of Eloise at the Plaza.

The point of bringing this up was not for Gasteyer to humblebrag. She wanted to make an earnest comment about the power of comedy in fraught political times, and brought up the night that she was at the White House and saw Jimmy Carter sitting in an armchair, drinking a beer, and cracking up at Dan Akroyd’s impression of him on Saturday Night Live. At a time when a politician’s humorlessness begat a national crisis, that memory, she says, is a crucial reminder of comedy and laughter’s power to surface truth at the same time it excavates cheer.

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Truly Unbelievable Vocals

I swear that, each week when I’m writing this Obsessed newsletter, I say to myself, “No more talking about Kelly Clarkson. You cannot possibly put Kelly Clarkson in the newsletter again. People are tired of reading you fangirling out over Kelly Clarkson.” But then Kelly Clarkson does something amazing, and I’m powerless. Attention must be paid.

I’ll keep it short and sweet this week, though: This cover of Céline Dion’s “All By Myself” is unreal.

More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed

Wicked: The film defies gravity! It sure is going to be popular! You will be changed for good after watching it! Insert more Wicked puns here! (Now in theaters)

Gladiator II: If you loved the first Gladiator, you’ll like this one too, because it is basically the same movie. (Now in theaters)

A Man on the Inside: We must be in the Good Place, because Ted Danson is in another great comedy series. (Now on Netflix)

Spellbound: The Netflix animated musical is a star-studded miss. (Now on Netflix)

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