We’re off to see the wizard – again – in Wicked: For Good, part two of the origin story of the bad and good witch, Elphaba and Glinda, from The Wizard of Oz. It remains fascinating politically – Glinda the Good is actually Glinda the Horribly Compromised. And the Wicked Witch turns out to be a creature of some backbone. Together Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo remain magnificent, the massiveness of Grande’s voice (out of such a wee body) matched by Erivo’s ability to project at the highest level.
But, all in all, it’s just good, OK, fine, all the way through. If you’ve seen part one then you probably have to see part two. If you liked part one a lot you’ll like part two a fair bit too. The songs are a mixed bag but there are three good ones – No Place Like Home, Wonderful and As Long As You’re Mine – the surprise being Jeff Goldblum’s ability to sell a song. He can’t really sing but his is the sort of big, vamping, vaudevillian moment the movie could do with more of.
As for plot, it continues where part one left off – Galinda has become Glinda, and is now in the orbit of Madame Morrible, who kits her protégé out with a bubble to float about in, to convince Oz that Glinda has magic powers (she hasn’t). Green-hued Elphaba, meanwhile, is heading off into the wilderness, where she will eventually take up residence in the drafty old castle she inhabited in The Wizard of Oz – so we expect “I’m melting… melting” at some point – after renewing her dalliance with Jonathan Bailey’s handsome prince Fiyero – who is betrothed to Glinda.
Fiyero is the wedge between the two, though really it’s politics that is driving the severing of ties – entitled Glinda finds it easy to go along with the (fairly corrupt) schemings of Morrible and the Wizard; Elphaba, marked out as different in a world tilting against difference, finds herself forced to make a choice. We’re on Elphaba’s side, in case you’re wondering.
This havering – will the old friendship of Glinda and Elphaba really be rent asunder? – is what constitutes the plot. Arriving as cameos in all this are some characters called Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Straw Man – barely allowed to speak for fear of tipping things in the wrong direction.
As in the first film, the power dynamic between Glinda and Elphaba is matched by the one between Grande and Erivo. It’s fascinating watching Grande yank the film her way – especially when she sings – and then Erivo pull it right back again. They’re remarkably well matched, which is appropriate because at bottom this is a tale of female friendship attempting to stand up to all the strains put on it.
Visually it’s more of the same – Steampunk Disneyland meets Noah’s Ark meets The Wizard of Oz (unsurprisingly) and for all its busy-ness and invention, it’s noticeable that it’s the old characters who really cut through. The flying monkeys, for instance, remain impressively unpleasant.
At one point Glinda and Elphaba get down to a bitch fight, which is both funny and emblematic of the problem at the centre of the film – it lacks shape and hopes these little sugar rushes will address the issue.
Good things all the way through. Good performances. Though Jon Chu’s direction – always moving – and the busy underscore by John Powell (riffing on Stephen Schwartz’s original songs) suggest everyone concerned knows there’s a hole that needs filling.
For all that carping, Wicked: For Good has pulled off a bit of a trick by the end, concluding on a big emotional note that almost brought a tear to this old lizard eye. I liked it. Not massively. But I liked it.
Wicked: For Good – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
I am an Amazon affiliate
© Steve Morrissey 2026
