We couldn’t be happier now that Wicked: For Good is out in theaters for everyone to watch. Thank goodness that everyone can finally witness the epic conclusion of the full story of Wicked so that people that have seen the Broadway show can finally speak their minds about their love for the show without having to worry about any spoilers. Now that Wicked: For Good is out and succeeding, we are starting to see people’s thoughts and opinions about the movie and there is a lot of mix opinions on if the movie is good or not, especially for fans of the Broadway show, like myself, debating if they like part 2 of Wicked the movie, or act 2 of Wicked on Broadway better. No need to fear, the Her Campus at Pace Wicked correspondent is here to talk about the comparison between both and to give my final opinion about which one I truly like the best. Spoilers ahead for those who want to be surprised when going to see the movie!
1. New/Added Scenes
First and foremost, as a movie adaptation based on the Broadway show, you get to add anything new to the story and Wicked: For Good has definitely taken advantage of adding new scenes that we don’t get from the Broadway show. One memorable new scene that was added to the movie was Glinda and Fiyero’s wedding. We actually get to see the magical and perfect wedding that Glinda has always dreamed of, with her gown and decorations and everyone being there to witness their marriage. However, things didn’t turn out so well for the wedding when the captured animals got lost and went to crash the whole wedding. In the original Broadway show, they only ever did mention that Glinda and Fiyero were engaged and the ball scene in the show was a celebration to officially announce their engagement. The Broadway show never went deeper into their relationship to nearly getting married so that they could focus more on Elphaba and Fiyero’s relationship. Another wonderful new scene that was added to the movie was in the end when Glinda is in Munchkin land to let the citizens know that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead. When she is talking to them, she makes peace with the citizens and the animals, letting the animals be free to do whatever they pleased and go back to living the way they used to with equal rights. This added so much more to the story to show that Oz can live at peace with any creature, and that all of Elphaba’s work to get rid of horrible rulers and help the animals was all worth it in the end. Not to mention how this scene showed that Glinda has been changed for good and has truly become good which gave her the ability and worth of having the Grimmerie open for her in the end of the movie. I could go on about all of the new scenes that were added, but I will say is that all of these new scenes add more to the story and helps dive deeper to answer many of the questions that long time Wicked fans had at one point, like the part where they show us a flash back of Glinda being a little girl who always had the desire to gain magic.
2. Deleted/Changed Scenes
Now, let’s get to the part that is being talked about the most, all of the scenes that were deleted and changed. Now this is where a lot of Wicked fans were getting mad because why were there so many different changes in the movie? Why did they take out such memorable moments from the Broadway show? There wasn’t a need to make such big changes to the movie because what isn’t broken doesn’t need to be fixed after all. For starters, why did they make Nessa float instead of walk? I understand the actress couldn’t walk since she is in a wheelchair in real life, but they could have somehow gotten a stunt double and figured anything else out. It completely changes Nessa’s story and it didn’t make sense to have her float for a minute and make her be in her wheelchair the rest of the movie. In Wicked on Broadway, Nessa actually walks because that’s what she desired and in the movie, she seemed more pathetic because she wanted to float when in reality most people in her situation would want to walk. It makes her character weaker in my opinion because her desperation and desire to walk and be with Boq makes more sense than just wanting to float and be non-threatening to anyone. Another change in the movie that wasn’t a fan favorite was that during the “As Long As Your Mine” performance, Elphaba and Fiyero were away from each other for most of the song. Don’t get me wrong, their performance was great, but the way it was portrayed in the movie ruins the vibes and romantic feelings that we want to get when watching this performance. On Broadway, there was so much chemistry with the smoke all over the stage and Elphaba and Fiyero holding on to each other and kneeling to show how much they love each other and are desperate to belong to one another. I do love how they changed the scene up where Elphaba discovers that Dr. Dillamond was captured by showing that there were so many innocent animals getting captured leading up to finding Dr. Dillamond. It was also smart to change some iconic scenes of Wicked by showing the kidnapping of Dorothy and how Glinda gets to Elphaba’s castle in the first place, which leads up to an iconic scene from the Broadway show that shows Elphaba yelling at Dorothy showing her anger from everything that is going on in Oz or the icon cat fight seen to make it modern but still make it such an icon moment for the movie. It’s hard to say how these changes are good or bad because the movie did have lots of great moments but also weak ones.
3. New Songs
How can we not talk about the new songs from the movie? Obviously Wicked on Broadway has been going on for years and hasn’t really made any changes or added anything new to the play. However, with the movie, this was an opportunity to get new songs and we officially have two new songs for the movie! Elphaba’s song “No Place Like Home” is about her trying to convince the animals to not flee Oz but to stay and fight because it’s their home and Oz should be equal for everyone. This song is a beautiful way to add on to Elphaba’s story about wanting to fight for what is right and that she wasn’t going to give up so easily no matter how hard it gets which is why at the end of the day there’s no place like home for the animals of Oz. Glinda’s song “Girl in the Bubble” is about her realizing how everything that she is witnessing happening in Oz is wrong. She sees that she has been trapped to believe that everything is good and happy but in reality the world can get scary and that she’s a part of making the world a horrible place for everyone. This song really does capture how Glinda is growing more and she’s not just the popular girl; she is so much more than that and could actually do the right thing which is why she is ready for her bubble to pop to no longer be the girl in the bubble and actually fight for the right cause and help make Oz so much better for everyone.
4. Song Changes
Speaking of music, we can’t ignore the original songs from act 2 of the Broadway show. It was such a wonderful treat to get to see all of these songs come to life on the big screen to add so much more to the story. However, there were some issues when it comes to how Wicked: For Good produced the songs. For starters, “The Wicked Witch of the East” has finally been added to a Wicked soundtrack because in the Broadway show soundtrack, they never added the song which I found crazy. We finally get to have this anticipated song that many Wicked fans have been waiting for and they basically changed the whole song. They changed the song by changing what Nessa wanted Elphaba to do to make her not use her wheelchair along with adding talking points in the song that just didn’t flow right. On Broadway, it was straight up singing along with Nessa’s desire to walk. Marissa Bode is a wonderful singer, but I feel like all of the changes in the song didn’t do her justice nor the song being in a Wicked soundtrack for the first time. Not to mention that Wicked did not only change up songs so much, but they also took out the best transitions of two of the songs from the movie with Glinda’s “I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)” which leads to a beat going into “As Long As Your Mine” and the iconic “Fiyero” yell between Glinda and Elphaba leading into “No Good Deed.” Those transitions help make the Broadway show very memorable for everyone to enjoy. With the song “Wonderful,” they did change the song up a lot which took me by surprise when I first listened to it and watched the scene since I love the original “Wonderful” on Broadway and feel like it’s an underrated song. However, I will admit that adding Glinda to the song did make sense because of the simple fact that it is hard to believe that in the Broadway show, it was just the Wizard alone who could convince Elphaba to join his side. Having Glinda being a part of the song and having Elphaba’s friend help convenience her makes more sense. Wicked: For Good definitely had its pros and cons when it came to updating the songs.
5. Costumes
What’s the point of talking about Wicked without talking about the costumes? The costumes that were made in Wicked: For Good definitely have grown since the first movie especially since the characters are older. With Glinda’s outfit on Broadway, her bubble dress definitely reminds everyone of flowers and bubbles. In Wicked: For Good, the blue dress that Glinda wears is a combination of dedicating the bubble dress in Wicked on Broadway with the color and The Wizard of Oz with the style of the dress with a modern look. This was a genius idea to put Glinda in two different dresses to show dedication for both the show and the original movie of how these stories came to be because we can’t forget about the iconic pink dress in Wicked that shows up again in Wicked: For Good as well. With Elphaba’s witch outfit, the designers definitely up their game to make the costume look edgy, modern, and witchy of course. In the Broadway show, Elphaba’s witch outfit is a beautiful dress that gives forest and nature vibes with the puffiness of the dress looking like plants. In the movie, she has a dress, but also a jacket that goes all the way down to her body with these edgy boots which makes her look fabulous and of course Wicked. I believe that one of the best parts of both of the Wicked movies coming out was seeing all of the costumes that they come up with because I believe that the Broadway show needed to update a lot of the looks based on colors really.
6. New Characters
Last but not least, we must talk about the new characters in the movie. Although she was first introduced in the first Wicked, we have to love Dulcibear. Adding Dulcibear to both movies was a smart move because it shows how much Elphaba has always cared about the animals since she was a little girl. It was always animals that always treated her right even if she was green, so it shows that Elphaba believes she needs to return the favor for the animals especially since Dulcibear raised her. It also makes sense because some people may find it hard to believe that Elphaba is doing all of this just because her teacher lost his job due to the fact that he is an animal. In the Broadway show, they really don’t go that deep into Elphaba’s childhood or other animals she got along with throughout her life, so it was a nice thought to add more meaning to Elphaba’s cause to help the animals. We also got to see the Cowardly Lion for the first time in Wicked when we only ever got to see the Cowardly Lion’s tail in the Broadway show. It’s nice to see a little more of he Cowardly Lion’s story about how he remembers Elphaba and what happened in the classroom and why he is the way he is now, even though he is just being a jerk and twisting the story on Elphaba to make her wicked which pretty much pissed off all Wicked fans, including myself. Adding these characters helped the story be meaningful and powerful than what it already was with the Broadway show.
So, with all of these differences in the movie and the Broadway show, is the Broadway show or movie adaptation of act two of Wicked the best? I hate to say it, but act two of Wicked on Broadway is so much better than Wicked: For Good. I’m sorry to the fans that only ever seen the movie who really enjoyed Wicked: For Good, but as a fan of the Broadway show first, I wanted and expected so much more with the movie and I feel like Wicked Part One did more justice for Wicked on Broadway compared to Wicked: For Good which is so sad for me. I’m not saying that the movie was terrible, Wicked: For Good was a great movie and is a good watch, I just wished that I was completely blown away and love it just as much as I loved the first Wicked movie. I will say this though, no matter which version of Wicked you prefer, it doesn’t mean you can’t love all of the different adaptations of Wicked equally just because you would prefer the movie or the Broadway show. So please, if you’re a true Wicked fan, go ahead and love anything and all things Wicked because both the movies and Broadway show are wonderful to watch. So what are you waiting for? Go grab your broomstick or bubble and fly on down to the movie theater and to the Gershwin Theatre to see for yourself how magical and exciting they both are so that you will become obsessulated and changed for good.