November 26, 2025 – I've been hearing about Wicked, the play that is, for years, but never saw it. Having seen both movies, it looks like I did not miss much. While this “reimagining” of the Wizard of Oz, loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, looks great, the story gets bogged down with too many villains and not enough heroes.

This is a musical with instantly forgettable songs. It benefits, however, from two fine singers, Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba, the wicked witch, and Ariana Grande, who plays the good witch Glinda (both reprising their roles from the first film). As usual in these kinds of movies, some other characters are called upon to sing, despite having little talent for singing.

The movie looks great thanks to production designer Nathan Crowley (“Wonka”) and an art direction team led by Quinn Robinson (“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”) set decorator Lee Sandales and costume designer Paul Tazewell. Oz hasn't looked this good since “Oz the Great and Powerful ” (2013).

While the hero of this story is obviously Elphaba, who gets a bit of help from a couple of other characters, she is up against some powerful villains who have managed to fool a lot of people into thinking they are good. The two main villains are the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role) and wicked witch Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role). Another villain added to the mix is Elphaba's sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode, reprising her role) who becomes corrupted by the power of being governor of Munchkinland.

While I liked some parts of the conclusion of this story, I really hated some elements of it, like what happens to Nessarose, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. Some of this is just awful. It sort of makes sense, though, if you view this story as a political metaphor in which Donald Trump is the Wizard of Oz, and Stephen Miller is Madame Morrible, and the military forces under the Wizard's command are like those of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

As a metaphor about political corruption, the terrible things that happen in Wicked are similar to what is happening in America and beyond, only not nearly as bad. In real life, millions have suffered and died who would otherwise not have suffered and died because of the damage done to the world by the Trump Administration. The trouble with this is that I prefer a Wizard of Oz story that is more uplifting than what is now happening in real life. This movie doesn't rise to that level, it rates a C.

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