Rejoicify! After years of waiting for a Wicked movie, we finally got an official teaser trailer for the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical and book of the same name, and we cannot wait to join Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) in Oz!
Despite the film wrapping just a few weeks ago, the Wicked teaser is jam-packed full of magic and adventure that left us thinking.
Glinda the Good: Witch in White
Jon M. Chu already directed a movie with a very extravagant and popular wedding scene (if you don’t know, we’re talking about Crazy Rich Asians), and it looks like Wicked might be another one?!
It’s no surprise everything in Oz looks grand, but we didn’t expect to see Glinda wearing a white dress, holding a bouquet, and walking down what seems to be an aisle. Is there going to be a Wicked wedding?!
A Silver Slipper Swap
Dorothy’s ruby red slippers are famous but nowhere to be found in the Wicked movie’s first look. This maintains consistency with the stage musical and The Wizard of Oz book by Frank L. Baum. The slippers are originally silver but were changed to red for the 1939 film. This provided a bold contrast of the red slippers on the Yellow Brick Road because of technicolor, which was new at the time.
You can’t miss the shoes alongside Toto, but if you pay close enough attention, you can also spot them on Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), as she sits in the wheelchair when Elphaba first puts the hat on earlier in the trailer.
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion make an appearance.
If you’ve seen Wicked the Musical on Broadway, on tour or on a stage anywhere, you know Dorothy doesn’t actually show up in the musical. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion do, but the foursome that walks down the Yellow Brick Road are never together in the stage version. So it’s notable this first Wicked trailer includes a clip of them in the Emerald City about to see the Wizard. Is this just a nod to the story for the teaser? Or perhaps this gives a clue as to how the story of Wicked will be extended into two parts and take more from the book by Gregory Maguire?
A Pop of Pink in the Bubble
Anyone who’s familiar with Glinda in any sense knows pink is her color. However, in the stage musical, because of rights, Glinda’s famous bubble dress is blue. The Wicked teaser confirms that Glinda’s bubble dress is pink, reverting it to the original hue from the 1939 movie. And it truly is good to see her!
Hellooo, Fiyeroooooooooo!
If you only know of the characters from The Wizard of Oz, you’re probably wondering who Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is. We know but won’t say to avoid spoiling anything, but he is a fan-favorite character. So it is a little disappointing Fiyero shows up just once in the Wicked trailer and isn’t really doing anything in the clip. But how could Jonathan Bailey not grab our attention anyway?
The Wicked trailer is seemingly for both parts of the movie musical — but doesn’t mention it.
Based on how the stage musical is set up, this first look seems to encompass both parts of the Wicked movie — despite the release date being advertised as Thanksgiving. Technically that is true for both parts, which are scheduled for Thanksgiving 2024 and 2025. But simply saying “Thanksgiving” implies the holiday of this year and not next.
Don’t get your hopes up, though. Producer Marc Platt confirmed to Vanity Fair that Wicked is indeed two parts, saying, “We didn’t want to end up making one four-hour movie and then cutting out songs. We want to satisfy the fans of the musical.”
Wicked Trailer Missing Movie Musical Magic
Even though a snippet of “Defying Gravity,” the musical’s most famous song, plays in the actual video of the teaser, the Wicked teaser doesn’t make it clear it is indeed a movie musical. None of the clips are of a musical number. No one is seen singing or dancing. We can hear Elphaba’s famous “Defying Gravity” riff at the very end, just like in almost every Wicked the Musical TV spot/video advertisement. But that hardly counts as marketing the movie as a movie musical.
After 20 years on Broadway, we’d like to think anyone who’s heard of Wicked knows it’s a musical by now, so why not just advertise it as such? We’re eager to hear Cynthia and Ariana together!
Part one of Wicked is in theaters Nov. 27.
