As a teaser for the forthcoming cinematic release, Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked does the job
“We gotta build the yellow brick road”
The juggernaut that is the publicity campaign for Wicked: Part 1 (as none of the publicity is calling it…!) continues apace with this 40 minute featurette to further whet the appetite. Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked is an official behind-the-scenes look of the making of the film led by Glinda and Elphaba themselves, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, talking about the experience of tackling this new version of the hit Broadway musical and introducing a fair few snippets of the film to come.
There’s a tendency for the pair to take things altogether far too seriously but at this point, I suppose there’s no other choice than full-bodied commitment. As we see auditions, recordings of them getting the news of being cast. on-set footage and endless tears about how significant it all is, it’s not to difficult to remember that it is just singing and dancing at the end of the day. The lightness of spirit that comes from the shorter contributions from supporting players like Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero), Bowen Yang (Pfannee), Ethan Slater (Boq) and Marissa Bode (Nessarose) feel more genuinely enthusiastic though naturally that is easier without the weight of a two-part epic on your shoulders.
There’s also a decent amount of chat with director Jon M Chu, production designer Nathan Crowley and cinematographer Alice Brooks which I found really fascinating, particularly around the choices made to build as much of the set practically as possible and the experimentation with camera angles and shots that that allowed. There’s not enough Michelle Yeoh (she just does the ‘coming next’ bits) or Jeff Goldblum (he does at least talk a bit) but we do get the briefest of glimpses of Adam James and Alice Fearn as Glinda’s parents and an excerpt of ‘What Is This Feeling?’ is at least a reminder that this is indeed a musical (even if no-one is mentioning that it is part one of two!).
