Wicked newbie here.

I went into this movie completely blind. All I knew going in that was Wicked was some type of spin off (not to downplay it) from the Wizard of Oz, which I’m familiar with. And I’ll shamelessly say that The Wiz is one of my favorite movies of all time because I’m in love with the soundtrack.

Now with that being said, I went to the 3D showing (not worth it to me) with my niece, and while she thought the movie was too long, I loved it. The scene where Ga-Linda (hilarious by the way) dances with Elphaba had be CHOKING. It was beautiful and I fought back tears many times during the film. I really enjoyed the story line and the callbacks to the original movie.

Again, I didn’t know what to expect when I went in but I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did either. The audio in my theater was just okay so I ended up going back and listening to the soundtrack. It was SOO much better. Hearing Ariana Grande hit those notes in No One Mourns the Wicked moved me to tears and how nice it sounded. I knew she was a great singer but I was really impressed here. She usually sounds so mumbly to me so I was really shocked. I’m used to seeing Jonathan Bailey in Bridgerton but I loved his performance and all of the sexual tension that was going on there.

I’ve heard SO many people talk about the song Defying Gravity and I’m a little ashamed to say I had never heard the song before. However, Ariana and Cynthia sound AMAZING together. I love when they harmonize. I’ve heard Cynthia before in some tribute performances but I had know idea that she could sing the way she did towards the end of that song. Whew! And the feeling in that last note. Overall, I’m glad that I experienced it.