‘Wicked’ takes the scenic route down the yellow brick road

Part I is as long as the entire Broadway musical

There are plenty of “Wicked” fans who will never get enough. Touring productions of the 2003 Broadway musical phenomenon through town to fill the seats as frequently as “The Wizard of Oz” used to play on TV every Thanksgiving.

But can you have too much of a green thing? Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” runs at 2 hours, 40 minutes, which is just five minutes shy of the musical’s entire running time (and that has an intermission). Plus, the movie adaptation flying into theaters this week is just Part I, covering the play’s first act. Part II will be out this time next year.

“Wicked,” written by playwright Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, sticks very closely to Holzman’s original book for the Broadway show. Look, I’m a film critic – I’m almost never going to complain about a movie being too long. But by taking twice as long to recount the same story, this “Wicked” feels awfully laggy in spots. 

And the fact that there are no new songs added in means that, strangely, this “Wicked” feels like it has less music than the original. It’s like being served the same meal on a plate that’s twice as large.

Having said all that, ”Wicked” is mostly kept aloft by some sparkling choreography and the brilliant casting of its two leads. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande make the roles their own in thrilling fashion. The power of their singing voices are not in dispute, but it’s revelatory how each fully inhabits their characters when they’re not singing.

Grande may be an international pop star, but she’s underrated as a comic actress, and she brings those gifts to bear in playing G(a)linda, the beautiful, popular alpha witch at the University of Shiz. Galinda isn’t a Mean Girl – she’s so used to having handed to her that she never has to stoop to being mean, floating along in a pink bubble of privilege, followed by a gaggle of admirers (including Bowen Yang).. Her reaction is more wonderment than annoyance when “Something’s wrong – I didn’t get my way.”

That “something” is Elphaba, the green-skinned outcast who accompanies her younger sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to Shiz. Erivo doesn’t play Elphaba as a wallflower, but a prickly, wary young woman who beats her bullies to the punch (“No, I didn’t eat grass as a child.”) When she loses her temper, sparks fly, as well as the furniture. Sorcery professor Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) takes notice of her magical gifts, offering to tutor her privately. (Might want to give the Madame’s name a second glance before you entrust yourself to her, Elphaba.)

Forced to room together, Elphaba and Galinda become frenemies. The best scenes in “Wicked” are the two of them, first sparring and then bantering in words and in song (“Popular”), and gradually finding common ground. 

Working off Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Holzman spins a satisfyingly dark tale of Oz, in which something seems off underneath the bright colors and pretty outfits. There’s a growing prejudice against talking animals in Oz that speaks plainly to the here and now – as the old goat professor Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage) muses, “When people get hungry or angry, they look for someone to blame.” And when Galinda and Ephalba finally meet the Wizard (a perfectly unctuous Jeff Goldblum), his usual smoke-and-mirrors game conceals something darker than in the original movie.

“Wicked” builds to the showstopping Act I ender “Defying Gravity” and Erivo is stunning as Elphaba embraces her witchy essence. But it still only feels like half of a movie. I guess we’ll have to wait until November 2025 to see how it all turns out.

“Wicked” opens Thursday in theaters everywhere. Like, EVERYWHERE.