Wicked: Part One's Two Biggest Cameos Will Have You Singing
by BJ Colangelo · /FilmThis article contains spoilers for "Wicked."
When Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's stage musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" made its Broadway debut in 2003, few could have anticipated what an international sensation "Wicked" would become. The story is told from the perspective of two witches, Elphaba and Galinda, who will later become The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda The Good, respectively.
It takes place before and after Dorothy Gale's arrival in the magical land of Oz, explaining how both women would end up down their inevitable paths. With gorgeous spectacle evoking the technicolor brilliance of Victor Fleming's classic 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," and some of the most memorable songs in the entire Broadway canon, "Wicked" took the world by storm. The show went on to win three Tony Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, and even a Grammy Award.
The show broke box office records around the globe and joined "The Phantom of the Opera" and "The Lion King" in the $1 billion Broadway revenue club in 2016. The following year, it would surpass "The Phantom of the Opera" to become the second highest-grossing Broadway production of all time. The success of the show also helped skyrocket the careers of musical theatre mainstays Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the roles of Elphaba and G(a)linda and went on to become massive crossover stars (Menzel is Elsa in "Frozen" for crying out loud). There have been plenty of Broadway stars who have made the leap from stage to screen (and one is not better than the other), but Menzel and Chenoweth's ascent set the standard for all who would follow them down the yellow brick road to Hollywood.
This is why it's such a delight to see them make cameo appearances in the "Wicked" film adaptation, complete with a vocal riff guaranteed to transport you back to 2003.
The original Elphaba and Glinda are back in the Wicked movie adaptation
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth appear during the first "Wicked" movie's massive chorus number "One Short Day." The sequence marks Elphaba and Glinda's arrival in the Emerald City as the Ozians welcome the special guests of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. About half-way through the song, the duo sees a staged musical in the middle of Emerald City being put on where the Wiz-o-Mania Players are performing the story of how the Wizard came to Oz and changed their land forever. Menzel and Chenoweth are credited as the "Wiz-o-Mania Superstars" and take the vocal lead on a new song all about The Grimmerie, the magical book where the Wizard supposedly gets his powers. That's right, they're not just popping in to smile at the camera, they're also singing.
To make things even sweeter, Menzel at one point delivers her famous vocal riff from the end of "Defying Gravity." While it's not the full-out wail that the film's Elphaba, Cynthia Erivo, unleashes in the film, it's a gorgeous torch-passing moment. It's as if movie Elphaba heard the vocal run, felt a connection to this superstar, and turned it into her own battle cry as she faced down an Emerald City that wants her dead. Although movies don't operate the same way as a Broadway show, it might be hard not to erupt into applause the second these two living legends appear on screen. Together, they're unlimited, the greatest team there's ever been, and director Jon M. Chu beautifully honored the legacy of the stage show by incorporating them into the feature film.
"Wicked Part One" is now playing in theaters everywhere, and critics are united in encouraging movie lovers to check it out.