MISTITLED
Main Cast: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo
Director: John M. Chu
I have been living aboard my yacht for some weeks, heading wherever the currents, my whims, and the impeccable seamanship of Captain Drew may lead. Of course we had to return to Marina Del Rey that first day as I realized when we were out in the Pacific that I had neglected to pack anything suitable to wear and that I had neglected to let any of my other staff get ready for an extended voyage. I’m relatively handy around the house, or the boat, but when I have a full complement of household functionaries available, I draw the line at shampooing my own rugs or making my own crème brulee.
With everyone now on board, things are going much more smoothly and I have even convinced some of my old friends to join me for a few weeks out of the country. We’ve been slowly cruising down the Pacific coast of Central America for the last few days and anchored this morning off the quaint little town of Zihuatanejo where I had a delicious little cappuccino in a little waterfront dive owned by a couple of older men named Andy and Red. On hearing who I was, they’ve asked me to come back this evening to share a couple of old favorite songs with them and their guests.
Therefore, I am spending the afternoon with Mr. Greene, stylist extraordinaire who has been among my guests the last few days. We’re tearing my wardrobe apart in order to construct just the right chanteuse outfit. I vetoed the leopard print thong but the cerise chiffon robe, if bedazzled with just the right appliques (and I have a pattern for some adorable shoebill storks) should be divine, especially with a headpiece garnished with matching ostrich plumes. Madame Laurie, my accompanist who also is thankfully aboard, is working up some appropriate arrangements of some old chestnuts appropriate to a waterfront dive bar setting. I’m thinking I’ll make a Bossa Nova version of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald the showstopper.
I had a few hours to kill before showtime and was all calm and relaxed after a Seconal and a glass of rum punch, so I headed over to one of the nearby resorts where the movie theater was showing this week’s major release: Wicked: For Good. Like the rest of the world who had enjoyed the film version of Act I of the stage musical, Wicked, I had been waiting for a year to see how John M. Chu was going to handle Act II. On stage, Act II of Wicked is problematic. It stuffs far too much plot into fifty minutes, requires overly quick references to the familiar plot beats of Dorothy’s encounters with the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, and pretty much all of the good songs are in Act I. I had hoped with the longer running time, we might get some clarification of plot points, more psychological insight into Elphaba, Galinda, and the other characters surrounding them, and maybe a glimpse or two of Dorothy through Elphaba’s eyes. I was disappointed. All of the flaws of the source material remain, blown up to epic proportions. Perhaps screenwriter Winnie Holzman, working from her book for the stage musical, was unable to see the flaws in her own writing.
We get no real recap of highlights from the original film and are thrust immediately into the new Wicked: For Good narrative, starting with a scene highlighting cruelty to outsiders which can immediately be read as a metaphor for current U.S. domestic policies. (There is a mordant political undercurrent throughout the film which invites comparisons to current affairs – whether it is appropriate or not I leave to the individual viewer but in many ways, it’s the best thing about it.)
Then we’re in the Emerald City, dealing with a rather inane love triangle between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande) and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey). Then there’s a lot of visual bombast made worse through CGI, some not very memorable songs until we reach the climax some hours later when we get the duet For Good between the two women which has a more restrained approach letting us appreciate just what good singing actresses they are. It is undercut a bit by the realization that they’re singing this about fifty feet away from Dorothy as she is imprisoned in the castle in her famous scene with an hourglass and a crystal ball.
The performances in Wicked: For Good, in general, remain top notch although Cynthia Erivo, in the more complex role, tends to outshine Ariana Grande. Michelle Yeoh, in particular, takes Madame Morrible, which is a somewhat nothing role on stage, and makes her a real menacing figure and stronger antagonist than Jeff Goldblum’s wizard. I don’t care much for Ethan Slater’s Boq and had difficulty caring about his fate and his and Ness Rose’s (Marissa Bode) storyline seems to be treated a bit perfunctorily. In fact, none of the deaths – either physical or metaphorical – carries much weight or garners much emotion from the audience. They’re treated more as plot contrivances than as events of significant impact.
What we’re left with is a visual feast that’s so overblown (and far away from the technicolor glow of the original) that it makes one vaguely nauseous. Greatish performances are undercut by poor writing and story structure choices. And the whole thing is at least half an hour too long. It takes Wicked: For Good two and a quarter hours to cover what is covered in less than an hour on stage. The pacing is fine and it rarely drags. It just seems too, too much. And the song added for Glinda (I assume so that Stephen Schwartz can angle for a best original song Oscar nomination) adds no new insights into her character and isn’t very good. If he had written something with the impact of Defying Gravity or Popular it might have helped what ends up being a musical without much in the way of memorable music.
If you liked the first one, by all means go to see how the story comes out and how it dovetails with The Wizard of Oz but don’t expect Wicked: For Good to move you much either musically or emotionally.
Brick laying machine. Trampled flowers. Sexy cardigan. Gratuitous shoe color change. Backpacking bear. Multiple mirror shots. Gratuitous Bowen Yang. Punishment cages. Desert escape.
Originally from Seattle Washington, land of mist, coffee and flying salmon, Mrs. Norman Maine sprang to life, full grown like Athena, from Andy’s head during a difficult period of life shortly after his relocation to Alabama.
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