The good folks at the historic Jones Theater are making it possible to add the first-run film Wicked: For Good to our pre-holiday entertainmentâfor two weekends, no less! And since For Good is the second installment in the Wicked tales, âReel Newsâ will join the doublets, running in this edition Part I of our preview, and next week, Part II.
Today weâll wander through the 125-year history that informs Wicked.
The story begins with L. Frank Baumâs 1900 publication of the childrenâs book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, brought to the screen in 1939 starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. The film is considered a classic, perennially listed as one of the best 100 films ever; the American Film Institute ranks it 6th in the best 100 films over 100 years. (There are actually ten âOzâ films, including a silent 1925 mishmash and sevÂeral animated films as well.)
Imaginative author Gregory Maguire, deeply inspired by the 1900 book and the 1939 film, delved into backstories in his first adult novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, published in 1995; several Maguire Wicked novels have since followed. The popular read was adapted as a Broadway musical in 2003, and has now become the two-part film we know as the November 2024 Wicked: Part One, and, a year later, showing on Main Street USA, Westcliffe, Wicked: For Good. Maguire was recently quoted as having said, “Even though the plot of the play and the plot of the movie differ a great deal from the plot of my original novel, some of the main points are maintained, and they are the ones that I care the most about.”
Even though the story has wobbled about a bit as it transverses media adapÂtations, it continues to dazzle readers, live-theater goers, and in this instance movie-goers, sending Oz and Wicked into the stratosphere of mega-hits and bajillions of adoring fans.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande of course reprieve in For Good their Oscar-nominated roles in Part OneâBest Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. For Good continues to follow the complex friendship between Ozâs witchesâGlinda, the pink clad prinÂcess type, and Elphaba, the green skinned marginalized type. Even their dress has become a fandom phenom, from HallowÂeen costumes to semi-serious fashion and cosmetics.
Part One gained $750m at the box office, and consumers and fans spent many millions more on film-related merch. BBCâs Caryn James writes, âWicked: For Good, the emotionally soaring second and final film, carries that momentum forward and makes the jourÂney feel complete.â She astutely adds, âLetâs be clear: the Wicked films are the definition of preaching to the choir. They arenât likely to win over anyone skeptiÂcal of candy-colored spectacle and overt sentimentality presented in Broadway show-stopping fashion. Wicked is what it is. But if youâre fine with that, this latest installment is more captivating than the last and enjoyable to watch throughout.â
Top off your local shopping by flying on into the Jones on Fridays or Saturdays, December 12 and 13, 19 and 20 for 7 p.m. showings, or Sundays, December 14 and 21 for the 2 p.m. matinĂ©e showÂings. Tickets for viewing the two hour and 18-minute PG Wicked: For Good are available at the door 30 minutes before the lights go down and you return to Oz yet one more time. The cost, by the way, is so modest youâll think youâve bewitched the usher, wickedly chuckling your way to your seat on your own yellow brick road.
Enjoy!
â W.A. Ewing
