Heres what we learned from listening to him speak about the film all the way through.
Its interesting,Wizard of Ozis such an American fairy tale.
he shared, also nodding to the 1939 movie as well.
© Universal Pictures
It was written at the time of American transition, leaving the Depression, going into war.
Its like Frankenstein waking up.
And I love that its part victory as well.
© Universal Pictures
you’ve got the option to hear the music actually gets victorious.
So its like, whose perspective are we [watching] from?
And even Elphaba here on this shot, we dont knowis it amazing that she did thism or not?
© Universal Pictures
And then things start to fall apart.
A question that was almost asked by a frequent collaborator of Chus.
When that woman says, Glinda, is it true you were her friend?
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So, sorry Lin.
The Wizard and I
Elphabas I want motivation inWickedis complicated.
The Wizard and I musical number, Chu says, is when she realizes No, you know what?
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Im good with being green.
The kaleidoscope glass sequence added to that feeling.
I love that the lights in there.
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And she can just dream of what it would be like if she wasnt in her skin.
Again, this will all come back later.
When the wizard asks her, Is that your hearts desire?
© Universal Pictures
You dont have to be green.
And she actually sacrifices her own wishes or possible wishes for the goodness of the animals.
So this number is very important.
Its the antithesis to Defying Gravity, where she has the possibility of flight.
She has the possibility of taking it off, but shes not ready yet.
She just doesnt know the context.
But weve actually already seen it.
And whether the audience picks it up or not, Im not sure.
But well get it by the second movie.
Yes, thats a novelty song homage in What Is this Feeling?
Shes the Z in Oz, and Glinda is the O.
So these two things will collide visually.
The way he depicted this involves a fun homage.
So I love the idea of being able to split screen here and play around with the form.
Why isnt that song called Loathing?
The dichotomy of the power between Elphaba and Glinda is clearly presented in this scene.
While Elphaba is the one with the visible potential, Glindas power is her popularity, Chu explains.
Actually, its very powerful to know how to communicate and how to convince everybody of something.
The song, he continues, is called What is this Feeling?
and people think its called Loathingbut actually its not loathing at all that is happening between them.
You dont want that, so its funny to see that, because they will.
As seen in the movie, the pair actually meets before Glinda meets Fiyero.
But in a weird way, this movie is about possibilities and choices.
And movie two is more of the consequence of some of those.
Chu talks about the moment Galinda considers gifting it to Elphaba as a joke enabled by Pfannee and ShenShen.
Shes just young and shes being pressured.
Instead shes actually drawn to the hat and that it actually has an interesting connection.
That it isnt just circular, that it has the edge to it.
She doesnt even know it yet.
And its beautiful, Chu points out.
I dont even know how it fits or if its even comfortable, because it doesnt look very comfortable.
Ive never tried it on, but its beautiful, he says of the intricate, unique design.
But for the film, Chu wanted to play the scene a different way.
[It was] much more important to us in this story that we still felt the hurt.
Defiant like, Im here even if it feels like the worst thing in my life.
Galinda/Glinda is changedfor good
In the duet we also get another huge moment.
And then the two of them could be bonded for life to be against the world.
This allowed Ariana Grande to make Popular her own, down to the extendedla-la-la-lahs.
And so we popped this in last minute and she learned that choreography at the last second.
And every time she did it, everyones smile was on their face.
I mean that was a tour-de-force to see her.
I hope the audience feels that too.
Chu knew this very well.
He recalls how secretive the shoot had to be.
She gets to do her soprano, so fun.
He continued to describe how they came up with this version of certain pop in of man of tomorrow.
Chu explains, This idea of the ultimate storyteller was something that we talked a lot about.
How far would you go to delight people?
And what are you going to compromise for that?
So setting him up as a playful Peter Pan-like character, Walt Disney-ish punch in character.
Its sort of a wish fulfillment that were all able to do together.
Even the Wizards Oz diorama felt very Worlds Fair or early Disneyland model.
So I love this moment that he gets to present to them.
Thats what his thoughts will look like:Wish fulfillment.
Pull them into his sandbox.
And that sort of taps into a childhood fantasy of somebody that you want to fully trust.
I dont think weve had experience like this before.
I think that moment is really hard.
And Ariana just plays it perfectly, and then we see Fiyero flying out.
We dont know where hes going to.
Who is he going to?
And then of course Cynthia flying in and her declaration threat to the wizard.
I love this moment, I love this shot.
[Erivo] was singing it live on her rig.
Were spinning her around and she was like, I need to do this live.
Let me do it.
And then it was just pure applause, like standing ovation in the room.
Shes on the wire.
Now she probably has tears in her eyes usually doing it.
And then to be able to end on this, her final takeoff.
Wickedis now out in theaters and on digital;Wicked: For Goodcontinues the story this Thanksgiving.
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