Cynthia Erivo

Wicked: For Good

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Striking a pose: Glinda and Elphaba

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 … Read more

Wicked

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Cynthia Erivo and Ariane Grande

Can you believe there are still people out there who don’t know that all-conquering smash musical Wicked is the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. I know this because I met one of them just the other night. Relief: he did know what The Wizard of Oz was. That way true madness lies. So to this much feted, hated, memed and debated movie, which won Oscars for production design and costumes only. Precisely what that guy didn’t know but now does – the back story of Elphaba, who died at the end of the 1939 movie – Wicked picks up the story right there, before dissolving … Read more

Bad Times at the El Royale

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Chris Hemsworth as Billy Lee

The “who’s zooming who” thriller of the 1990s rides again in 2018’s Bad Times at the El Royale, one of those epics where, by the end, almost everyone is dead and a building is in flames yet barely a spark of emotion has been generated. That is probably the intention. Instead writer/director Drew Goddard wants us to admire the spectacle, and gasp as he piles dialogue on top of plot on top of wayward characters and vainglorious allegory, switching timelines, digressing, flashing back, hopping from one “lead” protagonist to another as he goes – oh no, he’s dead – and generally having a fun old time in a big, kitsch, faintly ridiculous but very enjoyable … Read more