"Wicked" is an ideal film adaptation that also pays respect to the history of musicals. *Note! Contains spoilers.

*This article touches on the core of the story, so please be careful if you have not seen the movie.

Synopsis of "Wicked"

The two met at the University of Oz in the land of magic and fantasy - Elphaba, who is kinder and smarter than anyone else but is shunned by her family and those around her and is lonely, and Glinda, who is popular with everyone and wants to be loved and special more than anyone else, become roommates at the university by chance. The two are completely different in appearance, personality, and magical talent, and they rebel against each other, but as they get to know each other's true selves, they build an irreplaceable friendship. One day, Elphaba is discovered to have special powers by the great Wizard of Oz, whom everyone admires, and travels with Glinda to the Emerald City, which he rules, where they learn about a secret that has been hidden in Oz. It is something that will change the world and the destiny of the two of them forever...

Index

• The master of musical films
• The film version of the song makes a big impact
• The Coincidental Conflict Between the US Presidential Election and the Pursuit of Diversity

The master of musical films

When "Wicked" premiered on Broadway in 2003, it received high acclaim, including winning three Tony Awards, and has enjoyed overwhelming popularity in performances around the world. This is likely due to the unparalleled popularity of the original work on which it was based, " The Wizard of Oz " (39), combined with the high level of perfection of the numbers written by Stephen Schwartz (lyrics and composition) for the new musical.

For musical fans, Schwartz had written lyrics and music for masterpieces before "Wicked," but those were much earlier works, such as "Godspell" in 1971 and "Pippin" in 1972. Of course, he was involved in many stage musicals in the 1980s and 1990s, and wrote lyrics for Disney animations such as " Pocahontas " (1995) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame " (1996), but he was not blessed with a "masterpiece," and it was with "Wicked" that Schwartz was able to perfectly demonstrate his talent and many years of experience.

It was only natural that a film adaptation of "Wicked," which has been showing all over the world since 2003, would move forward, but it took a long time for production to begin. In the meantime, the names of J. J. Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy, and Rob Marshall were mentioned as possible directors, and at one point it seemed that Stephen Daldry of " Billy Elliot " (2000) was going to be the one to take the role, but in the end, Jon M. Chu was chosen.

"Wicked" © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Jon M. Chu's most recent directorial work , In the Heights (21), was also a film adaptation of a Broadway musical, and going back further, he has also worked on a series of dance movies, Step Up 2: The Streets (08) and Step Up 3 (10). In In the Heights , a number set in a swimming pool was created, paying homage to the direction of Busby Berkeley, the director and choreographer who created the golden age of MGM musicals, and he completed a large-scale musical scene with a large group dance. He also imitated the special effects shots using a rotating set in The Wizard of Oz (51), starring Fred Astaire, another great star of MGM musicals. And The Wizard of Oz also has a deep connection as a masterpiece of MGM musicals.

In " The Wizard of Oz ," Dorothy, a young girl who was blown away by a tornado to the Land of Oz in another world, is eventually returned to her hometown of Kansas by the power of Glinda, the "good witch." "Wicked" depicts the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba, who becomes the "bad witch," during their college days, and director Chu again blatantly took inspiration from "The Magical Girl" in the university library scene. Glinda's schoolmate Fiyero's number "Dancing Through Life" was filmed on a set with a giant rotating bookshelf, which feels like a more direct homage than the scene in " In the Heights " where the direction of gravity changes. The bookshelves in the library are designed to be circular and rotate, but the ladders connecting the bookshelves also rotate, forming the letters "O" and "Z." In other words, "Oz." This production is very moving.

The film version of the song makes a big impact