Jon M Chu

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

In the Heights

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Usnavi and Vanessa

“Immigrants – we get the job done,” ran a line in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash musical. In the Heights deals more overtly with the immigrant experience in America but no matter which way you look at it, this film doesn’t get the job done quite as well as Hamilton did, not in terms of plot or songs or raps. Why would it? This was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first go at creating a musical and though it won him a Tony – not bad for a debut – he’s still held back by the Broadway conventions that Hamilton rejected, and was all the better because it did. Big opening number, and we’re introduced to all the … Read more