Wicked review: It's a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible writes BRIAN VINER By BRIAN VINER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 20:16, 19 November 2024 | Updated: 20:55, 19 November 2024 e-mail 24 View comments 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. 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.
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. 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 .