As it usually happens with any good phenomenon outside the audiovisual world worth its salt, the adaptation of the already mythical musical ‘Wicked’ to the big screen It is a project that has been going on for a long, long time. Twelve years have passed since his leap into the cathodic medium was announced in a miniseries for ABC and eight since it emerged that Stephen Daldry would direct the film version of him.
witch things
Both proposals fell on deaf ears but, finally, in February 2021 John M. Chu got on board a translation of the work of Stephen Schwartz to the cinema whose first part is getting closer. And what better way to celebrate its future release than with a first look at its stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as the witches Elphaba and Glinda.
In a post on his Instagram account, Chu, responsible for ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, has shared a couple of snapshots —somewhat dark, yes— to which the text accompanies “They didn’t tell you the whole story. What happens when you stray off the yellow brick road?” and notice that the feature film is currently in the process of shooting.
‘Wicked’, based on what is already the fourth longest-running musical in Broadway history, based in turn on the novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ by Gregory Maguire, works as a prequel from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and narrates the events that occurred before the arrival of Dorothy, focusing on the friendship that united Elphaba and Glindathe Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.
Along with the aforementioned Erivo and Grande, the cast of the film includes names like those of Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, and Jonathan Bailey. To be able to enjoy his interpretive skills and his vocal chords we will have to wait for the November 27, 2024, date on which the first part will be released. For its part, the second installment will arrive on December 25, 2025.
I, meanwhile, will continue to wait for some studio to have enough guts to dare to adapt that wonder titled ‘The Book of Mormon’ by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.
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