Everyone deserves the chance to fly. That is, to see the new Wicked movie in theaters. As you can imagine, Wicked is the most anticipated movie adaptation of the year, with the musical being so famous on Broadway. While Wicked is the number one movie out in the world, the question remains: is the movie adaptation better than the Broadway show? Before picking which is better, let’s look at some of the differences between the movie and the Broadway show. As you can imagine, there were plenty of changes to the movie to make it longer and still live up to the Broadway version. Spoilers ahead!
1. Runtime
With the Broadway show becoming a movie, the director, Jon M. Chu, took advantage of how long he could make this movie. In the original Broadway show, the runtime is two hours and 45 minutes with an intermission. The movie, on the other hand, lasts for two hours and 40 minutes, but the catch is that they split the movie into two parts. The first part that was released this year was Act One of the show. Part Two will be Act Two of the Broadway show, and will come out next year, with the same runtime as Part One. The reason it’s split into two parts and both parts have long runtimes, is because Chu wanted to add to and expand upon the story. With the Broadway show, it could feel a bit rushed when we get into Act Two. Splitting up the movie is a great move, because we get to explore the wonderful land of Oz with more details and feelings.
2. New/Added Scenes
For all Wicked fans out there, their focus was on the new scenes that were added to the movie that aren’t in the original show. When it comes to new scenes being added to a movie, people tend to worry that those scenes won’t be good and it will make the movie adaptation of a show or book not so great. However, with the movie version of Wicked, they didn’t fail with all of the new added scenes. When you first watch the movie with the added scenes, you’ll get goosebumps because of the emotion within the movie. For instance, they show what Elphaba’s childhood was like due to the fact that she was green. It shows how a talking bear raised her since her father clearly never cared for her, and displays why she cares so deeply about the animals in Oz’s rights. Although the Broadway show may not have extra scenes, it still fulfills the story perfectly. The show will always be filled with many different emotions, and thanks to the movie, it now has even more with the new scenes included that people will get even more excited about.
3. Scene Changes
As a movie adaptation of a Broadway show, you can’t just copy the stage production to make it the same. You have to make changes to the movie to make it unique and to fulfill the legacy of the story or show. However, you can’t have so many changes, or else it will be a whole different story, and it would ruin the story of the original. Wicked, the movie, did a wonderful job with some scene changes. You probably wouldn’t think that a big scene from the original show would be changed. Fair warning, there are changes to some of the big scenes from the show. That could worry some people because the Broadway show is perfect just the way it is, with the scenes it has. However, the way they changed the scenes in the movie is actually amazing. You won’t be disappointed when you see the changes. For instance, in the Broadway show, Fiyero and Elphaba first meet right in front of the school, while in the movie, they meet in the woods. The changes made give more details to the story and show how it can be told differently, while still maintaining the integrity of the original story. In a way, you wouldn’t want to compare the scene changes from the movie and Broadway show because they both make the scenes special and unique in their own way that people will love and enjoy.
4. costuming
One of the most memorable parts of the Broadway version of Wicked is the costuming. The fashion is to die for with all of the sparkles, colors, unique styles, accessories, and so much more. The movie definitely had to step up its game with the costumes. What makes the movie’s fashion different from the Broadway show is the color and style. With the colors, they choose brighter colors, while in the Broadway show, they choose simple and more neutral colors. It looks like the movie was trying to use colors that were from The Wizard of Oz since Wicked is its prequel. For instance, in the Broadway show, Glinda’s bubble dress is a blue color with puffer sleeves, while in the movie, Glinda’s dress is pink with no sleeves, just like it was pink in The Wizard of Oz. The Broadway show and the movie both have their own unique style, which makes the costumes for both special in their own ways.
5. Lyric/song changes
Lastly, when making a Broadway musical into a movie, you should expect changes within the songs. There could be add-ons or lyric changes in a song. With the original Broadway show, the soundtrack is such an amazing listen, even if you haven’t seen the show before. It’s perfect just the way it is; people believe that there shouldn’t be any changes made to the movie. However, the movie adaptation did make some changes to some songs, and they did it perfectly. For example, they definitely added a lot more high notes in the movie than in the Broadway show to make it more heartfelt as you watch. In the song “Popular,” the movie version made changes by adding Elphaba into the song, even if it was just with one word. The movie also made some of the lyrics into talking points, as well as adding extra “La la la las” at the end of the song. The Broadway version only had Glinda singing with no talking points. In the song “Defying Gravity,” the movie added extra lyrics by making Elphaba sing, “It’s me,” more than once, while the Broadway show made her say it once to get to the point. Another difference is that in the Broadway show, there’s a lyric that goes, “Look at her, she’s wicked, get her!” and the movie changed it to, “Look at her, she’s wicked, kill her!” The movie did this to show how serious the whole plot is, since in the Broadway show, they don’t have time to show everything that they want to show since there’s a time limit. Both soundtracks are special in their own ways and you will definitely enjoy both of them.
So, with that in mind, is the Broadway show or movie adaptation the best? At the moment, it’s a hard choice since we only got to see Part One of the movie. Both are so amazing; how can you pick just one? My suggestion is to wait until next year, on Nov. 21, 2025, to see Part Two of the movie, and then fully debate which is the best. In the meantime, what are you waiting for? Go grab your broomstick or bubble and fly on down to the movie theater and to the Gershwin Theatre to see for yourself how wonderful both of them are, and why you are going to fall in love with this show.