original title.) Since the entire stage play runs two hours and 45 minutes, the same length as Wicked, Part I, the screenplay adds considerable material to the original Broadway script. Surprisingly, one thing that’s not added is a new song in an attempt to snag a Best Song Oscar nomination.

Wicked is the story of Elphaba (later to become the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (later known as Glinda the Good Witch). They meet as students at Shiz University, where Galinda (Ariana Grande) is the most popular student, with an entourage of toadying admirers. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who has green skin and wears granny glasses, isn’t enrolled at the university at first. She’s there to escort her sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who uses a wheelchair. However, Elphaba has magical powers she’s never been able to control. When she displays those powers after getting angry, the school’s sorcery instructor, Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), notices and enrolls her in the university as well. Elphaba and Galinda then become unlikely roommates.

As the school year progresses, Elphaba and Galinda’s relationship improves from enemies to friends, so much so that when the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) eventually summons Elphaba to the Emerald City, she invites Galinda to accompany her. There, the two discover the Wizard’s secret, the same secret moviegoers have known for decades. The Wizard is no wizard but a con artist. Worse, unlike the character from The Wizard of Oz, who was a harmless charlatan, this Wizard is a power-hungry manipulator who wants to use Elphaba’s powers to his own ends.

The sinister political undertones of the movie version of Wicked are more relevant today than when the musical first appeared. That’s especially clear when the Wizard acknowledges that “the best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy” (a line that features prominently in the film’s trailer). The “enemy” referred to isn’t Elphaba, as the trailer implies, but the talking animals common in Oz as the story began. In one of the film’s more somber subplots, the talking animals are quickly targeted, especially Elphaba’s favorite instructor, Professor Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), a goat. The movie’s political subtext may discomfort to some people.

What won’t bother people are the many songs that occupy much of the running time of Wicked. Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz ported over every song from Act One of the stage musical, expanding some of them. Director Jon M. Chu, who previously showed his musical chops in In the Heights, goes beyond the limitations of the theatrical stage in staging and choreographing his numbers. “Dancing Through Life” dances its way through a revolving library set and an enormous dance floor at a nightclub. Later, Elphaba defies gravity with the aid of CGI as she sings the movie’s final number, “Defying Gravity.” The CGI in these scenes could have been better, especially considering the budget, but the singing and choreography are terrific.

Wicked benefits from an excellent cast, who are all perfect for the roles. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have great voices and several opportunities to display them. However, they also show their acting depth. Erivo benefits substantially from the screenplay, expanding the original musical by adding scenes that show her upbringing. These include scenes showing her love for the bear that acted as her nanny, the depth of loss she felt at the death of her mother, and the teasing she endured since childhood. Grande takes what could have been a Mean Girls-type villain and makes her, instead, a naïve and spoiled young woman with some good instincts who gradually (and not always successfully) broadens her horizons. The screenplay also gives more depth to some of the secondary characters, most notably the handsome but shallow Fiyero, played by Jonathan Bailey of Bridgerton renown. Both Elphaba and Galinda fall for him, but some additional scenes of his first meeting with Elphaba suggest he isn’t quite as vacuous as he appears in the play.

Freed of the constraints of a Broadway stage, the finale of Wicked turns Elphaba’s escape from the Wizard’s castle into an action set piece that includes a near-escape in the Wizard’s balloon and considerably more flying. Unfortunately, the sequence turns the show-stopping song “Defying Gravity” into 15 minutes of intermittent singing mixed with frantic action. The action isn’t nearly as effective as Cynthia Erivo’s vocals. Sometimes, simpler is better, as it was here.

Fans of the Broadway musical will love Wicked. They get everything they love about the show at greater length and with more of their favorite characters. They also get inspired cameos from Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, the stars of the original Broadway production. Surprisingly, most of the problems with the movie are technical rather than creative. I would have thought that a film this expensive could have made better use of its CGI effects. Still, Wicked has an effective and natural cliffhanger ending. It also keeps some of the surprise revelations about secondary characters that those unfamiliar with the musical might not realize. For anyone who loves music or spectacle, Wicked is a wickedly wonderful production.