“Wicked” Casts a Spell and Causes Commotion in a Brand New Trailer
“Fellow Ozians, the Wicked Witch of the West is dead!”
So begins the second trailer for director John M. Chu’s Wicked, inviting us to find out what happened before Dorothy dropped into Oz and attitudes were cemented about that Wicked Witch.
Chu’s Wicked is the first big-screen adaptation of the juggernaut Broadway show, and he’s deployed two multitalented superstars to help enchant Universal’s adaptation. Playing Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, is Emmy, Grammy, and Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo, giving us our first big-screen look at the powerful, misunderstood woman at the center of the tale, one whose unusual green skin has made her the subject of scorn. The second superstar is the Grammy-winning, multiple-platinum superstar Ariana Grande as Glinda, a cheery figure whose popularity has been secured by privilege and super-charged by her ambition.
“Why is it you’re always causing some sort of commotion?” asks Fiyer (Jonathan Bailey), a former Arjiki prince and Elphaba’s love interest in the story. “I don’t cause commotion, I am one,” she replies. “Some of us are just different.”
Wicked won’t skimp on the power ballads that rocked the Broadway stage, and it will take us onto the campus of Shiz University, where Elphaba and Glinda cross paths and an unlikely but profound friendship blossoms. They will eventually meet with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), setting off a course of events that, as we know, will become the stuff of legend in The Wizard of Oz.
The new trailer sets loose flying monkeys, the yellow brick road, and Elphaba’s embrace of her powers and abilities, even if it means donning the dark hat and cloak that seems to suggest she is wicked after all.
The film is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel. Joining Erivo and Grande are Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater as Boq, and Bowen Yang as Pfannee.
Check out the trailer below. Wicked will enchant theaters on November 22.
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Featured image: Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in WICKED, directed by Jon M. Chu. Photo courtesy Universal Studios.
