Wicked review: It's a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible writes BRIAN VINER
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Wicked. Rating:. The Royal Festival Hall in London must have seen some sights in its 70-odd years but possibly nothing quite like Monday evening’s European premiere of Wicked, at which the lucky members of the audience were those not seated behind the drag queens dressed as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.
![[It begins at the end, with Glinda (Ariana Grande) announcing to the long-suffering people of Oz the death of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the fearsome Wicked Witch of the West]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/19/19/92253669-14102405-It_begins_at_the_end_with_Glinda_Ariana_Grande_announcing_to_the-m-51_1732043741903.jpg)
There were a lot of them, and they all seemed to be at least 6ft tall, not even taking account of the beehive hairdos. The stage musical Wicked, notional prequel to The Wizard Of Oz, by all accounts has a huge gay following and Jon M Chu’s eagerly-awaited film adaptation, conspicuously targeted at least partly at the same demographic, is a riot of camp.
![[The Royal Festival Hall in London must have seen some sights in its 70-odd years but possibly nothing quite like Monday evening’s European premiere of Wicked]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/19/19/92253687-14102405-image-a-52_1732043764433.jpg)
When it finally came to an end on Monday evening, a rapturous standing ovation all but raised the roof. It had been a long time building. Chu’s exuberant film lasts two hours and 40 minutes, and leaves the story only half-finished. Wicked Part Two is scheduled for release this time next year.
![[Chu and the writers have enormous fun with all this and are superbly served by the cast: Erivo and Grande are both pitch-perfect and altogether sensational (pictured)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/19/19/92253677-14102405-Chu_and_the_writers_have_enormous_fun_with_all_this_and_are_supe-m-54_1732043793827.jpg)
Jon M. Chu also makes the most of all available cinematic bells and whistles. It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. It begins at the end, with Glinda (Ariana Grande) announcing to the long-suffering people of Oz the death of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the fearsome Wicked Witch of the West.
![[The absurdly handsome Prince Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey, pictured), while at first appearing to fall for the enticingly enigmatic Elphaba, soon has his head turned, like almost everyone else, by the dazzlingly pretty, popular Glinda]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/19/19/92253671-14102405-The_absurdly_handsome_Prince_Tigelaar_Jonathan_Bailey_while_at_f-m-58_1732043816841.jpg)
I saw the musical on Broadway not long after it first opened (my wife and I extravagantly took our three children, which as I recall cost about the same as a medium family saloon). From what I remember of the original, the film cleaves to it very closely – unsurprisingly, as one of the screenwriters is Winnie Holzman, who wrote the stage version.
![[Yeoh, Bailey and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard offer splendid support (pictured)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/19/19/92253675-14102405-image-a-59_1732043842168.jpg)
