'Wicked: For Good' is in theaters, along with 'Zodiac Killer Project' and more

"Elphaba, exiled after defying both gravity and the fraud who calls himself a Wizard, is creating as much havoc as she can with just a broom. Glinda, meanwhile, is spreading Wizardly propaganda and "obsessulating" over the motorized pink bubble she's been given to make her appear magical. They both have issues with the blowhard Wizard, who is pushing fake news, and is also, let's say, dictatorious, or maybe, fascistified."

"If you've somehow missed the backstory to this backstory, Wicked first a novel, then a Broadway musical was conceived as a prequel for adults to the events depicted in The Wizard of Oz. It was nothing if not complicated, both morally and plot-wise origin stories for the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow were mostly brushed in after the central witch frenemies were well established. But that meant filmmaker Jon M. Chu had a problem when the Broadway hit became two movies."

"The story's early part about growing up has songs that are popular, gravity-defying. The later part, though, is about wising up about consequences, the politics of oppression. It kinda doesn't sing. So for this movie, Stephen Schwartz wrote a new tune for Ariana Grande about Glinda's life in a bubble and for Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba, he penned a musical nod to the original Wizard of Oz called "No Place Like Home.""

Wicked: For Good returns to Oz with Elphaba exiled after defying gravity and a fraudulent Wizard, and she wreaks havoc with a broom. Glinda spreads Wizardly propaganda while obsessing over a motorized pink bubble that enhances her perceived magic. The Wizard promotes fake news and displays dictator-like tendencies. Wicked began as a novel and a Broadway musical conceived as an adult prequel to The Wizard of Oz, with complex moral and plot threads and later-added origin stories for secondary characters. Dividing the Broadway show into two films created structural problems. Stephen Schwartz wrote new songs for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo that are well sung but feel aimed at awards and at patching plot holes, leaving the film dutiful and somewhat derivative of the 1939 classic.

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