Wicked

I am not familiar with the Broadway show and I was afraid of this movie. I love old school musicals; that is, pretty much anything before 1980. The newer crop of musicals greatly annoy me. They are generic, not one song sticks; in fact, they grate like the dentist’s drill. But I promised a friend I would watch Wicked. I liked it more than I expected, which was zero.

Still, I am going to nitpick this thing to death.

The main reason Wicked works is because Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are great. Ariana Grande is charming. Cynthia Erivo is a powerhouse, as she can both act and sing her heart out. They have an ebullient chemistry that is unexpected and very winning. I don’t know if it’s because the music is so generic or the sound mix is weird, but I’ve heard both Grande and Erivo sing elsewhere and they sound fuller and better than they do here.

I loved the cheeky costume design by Paul Tazewell. The production design by Nathan Crowley seems great, if only the camera would let us focus on the busy sets for one tenth of a second. The director, Jon M. Chu, doesn’t seem to trust that the amusing script by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox and the songs by Stephen Schwartz can carry the day, so he proceeds to cram every inch of the frame with vertiginous movement. The little choreography there is, gets lost amidst this useless kinetic salad, and it doesn’t seem particularly interesting…