The one glaring flaw in Wicked that still haunts me

We open on desolation, chaos and revelry. Flying monkeys flee as the townspeople of Oz celebrate the death of the tyrannical Wicked Witch of the West. A bubble floats down gracefully from the sky, and the people cheer wildly.

This is the grand entrance of our hero Glinda the Good Witch, as played by Ariana Grande in the blockbuster Wicked. And almost immediately the energy is drained and the stage is set for one of the most uncomfortable and characterless portrayals in modern cinema.

The musical Wicked debuted on Broadway in 2003 and quickly became one of the most popular and successful stage shows of all time. Fans have awaited a film version for decades and were finally granted their wish in 2024, after a troubled production interrupted by multiple stoppages and delays. For the most part it lived up to the hype.

Ariana Granda as Glinda in the film Wicked.Credit:

Part one of Wicked (the musical has been inexplicably stretched across two films, with the trailer for this year’s sequel Wicked: For Good released in June) was a huge success: it grossed $US756 million ($1.155 billion) worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing musical film adaptation ever, and received 10 nominations at the Academy Awards, including best picture.

It’s a technicolour, beautifully crafted film – overly long, definitely, but entertaining and well-made. The songs are wonderful, the choreography is second-to-none, the sets are absolutely stunning, and the performances are dazzling. There is but one glaring, and strangely overlooked, exception: Grande’s stilted and soulless showing as Glinda.

Grande’s performance was widely praised, and she was nominated for every major best-supporting-actress award, including the Oscar. And yet she is clearly the weakest part of an otherwise spectacular film.

That opening number, No One Mourns the Wicked, is the perfect example. As townspeople erupt into song and dance, Grande walks through awkwardly, the centre of a scene that would be more entertaining without her discomfiting presence. Glinda is supposed to glide, a calm magical presence in the midst of pandemonium.

Instead, Grande moves robotically, her head and arms mirroring C-3PO from Star Wars. Her speaking voice is a soft monotone, lacking the warmth and glimmer of Billie Burke from the original The Wizard of Oz (1939), or Kristin Chenoweth, who played the role on stage. Even her singing feels outside the world of the film.

It’s also worth noting that the rest of the film is one long flashback, meaning that in this opening scene Glinda has already gone through her entire character arc. So why does she lack any depth whatsoever? Unfortunately it foreshadows the next 2½ hours. Get excited.

The young Glinda we meet at the magical Shiz University is so popular that she inspires literal worship among her classmates. She is supposed to be magnetic, exhibiting the kind of effortless confidence that comes from never having struggled for a thing. Yet Grande plays it aloof and ditzy, an alien in a strange world she’s discovering for the first time. Glinda is vapid and shallow but that doesn’t mean there isn’t depth and motivation to mine.

Any emotion Grande does show is almost cartoonish: a melodramatic gasp of shock at first seeing the green-skinned Elphaba; a wide-eyed pout after being overlooked by the school’s master sorceress; a coquettish smile while concocting a scheme; her gobsmacked gawp as she sees Oz. As Glinda faces rejection and failure for the first time, we should see small lines of insecurity crack her otherwise flawless exterior. But there is no subtlety here, no underlying emotional journey.

For the most part it’s just robot Glinda, sleepwalking through a story in which she is a main character. Her rigidity stands in stark contrast with the film’s otherwise excellent performances: the easy charm and electric charisma of Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, the smooth double-talk and duplicitous artifice of Jeff Goldblum’s Wizard, the stoic mysticism of Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible and, of course, the strength and heartbreak of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.

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Erivo carries herself with dignity and resolve but the anger simmering beneath is evident in every scene. As she begins to make friends and accept herself, we see her soften before erupting into righteous anger. Her performance is complex and brilliant, and her singing is spectacular, laden with an intensity and emotion that lifts the film.

Those familiar with the story will know that part two, Wicked: For Good, will require even more from Grande as her allegiances are challenged and she develops into the powerful witch we met in The Wizard of Oz. Here’s hoping she can defy gravity and live up to the role.

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