Review: Erivo and Grande can’t save "Wicked: For Good"

by Cláudio Alves

Months before it arrived on Broadway, when it first opened for previews in San Francisco, Wicked was already being criticized for an act-two problem. Some finagling was made on the trip to the East Coast, yet the show that premiered at the Gershwin in October 2003 suffered from many of the same structural issues. They didn't stop it from becoming a commercial success or a cultural phenomenon, but still. Two decades later, the revisionist tale of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good was announced as being split into two movies, alarming those who were familiar with the show and its problems. Financial incentives aside, the decision allowed the first act to soar higher than it would were it still chained to an unsatisfying conclusion, but it left the second part unmoored. Bloating the runtime to double what it is on stage and transmuting a 15-minute act break into a year-long wait didn't help either.

This is not to say that Wicked: For Good was fated to fail, simply that it faced bigger obstacles to success than its predecessor. Sadly, Jon M. Chu and company weren't up to the challenge, no matter how hard the dream team of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande tried...

Click to read more ...

Something "Wicked" this way comes!

by Cláudio Alves

Ariana Grande, Jon M. Chu and Cynthia Erivo photographed by Giles Keyte on the set of WICKED: FOR GOOD | © Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

In 1900, L. Frank Baum published the first book in what would become a series and a cultural monument – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Two years later, he'd adapt Dorothy's adventure into a musical extravaganza for the stage, and six years after, that Kansas girl would walk the yellow brick road into the silver screen for the first time. But it would take MGM's 1939 Technicolor miracle of a movie for The Wizard of Oz to reach its full potential. In 1995, Gregory Maguire used Baum's creation to question the workings of American propaganda through a revisionist tale. In 2003, Wicked reached the stage, reimagined as a mega musical that would take the world by storm. Last year, Jon M. Chu's film adaptation of the show's first act wowed audiences and, next week, the story ends, For Good.

It's been a long journey to get here, and I was lucky enough to attend the London premiere of Wicked: For Good, experiencing one of 2025's most anticipated movies firsthand, along with the fervor of die-hard fans and the media fanfare of a promotional roll-out the likes of which we rarely get to witness...

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Best Supporting Actress has a lot of wiggle room

The Oscar Volleys are back! Today, Cláudio Alves and Nathaniel Rogers discuss Best Supporting Actress...

Teyana Taylor is Nathaniel's frontrunner for ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER | © Warner Bros.

CLÁUDIO: It's that time of the year again, the beginning of the awards season proper, and all the punditry that comes with it. So, let's talk predictions. After all, it can't be reviews and festival coverage at The Film Experience all of the time. Because we're actressexuals at heart and lovers of actressing at the edges, it seems appropriate that the first of these volleys would be about Best Supporting Actress.

And let me tell you, having just returned from the London premiere of Wicked: For Good, still reeling from Diane Ladd's death, two thoughts are at the forefront of my mind. Ariana Grande is going to be a force to reckon with this season, as she sinks her teeth into an expanded and, in some ways, deepened version of Glinda. Nevertheless, it's hard to consider her case without thinking about what the late great Ladd was so adamant about fighting - CATEGORY FRAUD…

Click to read more ...