{"id":2171360,"date":"2025-11-21T22:57:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2171360"},"modified":"2025-11-21T22:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:57:38","slug":"for-good-songs-boring-our-critics-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/for-good-songs-boring-our-critics-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"For Good\u2019 Songs Boring? Our Critics Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"vulture-zephr-anchor\" data-editable=\"content\">\n<div class=\"lede-image-wrapper inline horizontal\">\n<div class=\"image-wrapper crop-override\">\n            <picture><source media=\"(min-resolution: 192dpi) and (min-width: 1180px), (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (min-width: 1180px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pyxis.nymag.com\/v1\/imgs\/3de\/296\/863d144900a02559580c63dcd60fb0968c-wickedending.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg 2x\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 1180px) \" srcset=\"https:\/\/pyxis.nymag.com\/v1\/imgs\/3de\/296\/863d144900a02559580c63dcd60fb0968c-wickedending.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"\/><source media=\"(min-resolution: 192dpi) and (min-width: 768px), (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pyxis.nymag.com\/v1\/imgs\/3de\/296\/863d144900a02559580c63dcd60fb0968c-wickedending.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg 2x\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pyxis.nymag.com\/v1\/imgs\/3de\/296\/863d144900a02559580c63dcd60fb0968c-wickedending.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"\/><source media=\"(min-resolution: 192dpi), (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pyxis.nymag.com\/v1\/imgs\/3de\/296\/863d144900a02559580c63dcd60fb0968c-wickedending.2x.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\"\/> <\/picture>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"lede-image-data\">\n<p>\n                  <span class=\"credit\">Photo: Giles Keyte\/Universal Pictures<\/span>\n              <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph_prologue text-centered\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi9a5xc4004e3b78s3w401qu@published\" data-word-count=\"29\">This is the latest edition of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/promo\/sign-up-for-the-critics-newsletter.html\"><em>The Critics<\/em><\/a>, our weekly roundup of critical reviews, essays, and conversations. Want to have it arrive in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here:<\/p>\n<aside data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/newsletter-flex-text\/instances\/cmi9c5zwq001f3b787uecn53u@published\" class=\"newsletter-flex-text_subscriber-only-newsletter initially-hidden opacity-zero\" data-track-id=\"critics\" data-track-type=\"newsletter-signup\">\n<div class=\"wrapper-style\">\n<div data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"text-form-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"text\">\n<h3 class=\"title\">Sign up for <i>The Critics<\/i><\/h3>\n<p>A weekly dispatch on the cultural discourse, for subscribers only.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"terms-and-policy-wrapper initially-hidden\">\n<p>        <button class=\"terms-button\" role=\"button\">Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"expanded-terms \" aria-hidden=\"true\">By submitting your email, you agree to our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/newyork\/terms\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/newyork\/privacy\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Notice<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99xqyh000i0ibk4i2va8jj@published\" data-word-count=\"102\"><em>For better or worse,\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/review-wicked-for-good-is-actually-better-than-the-first.html\">Wicked: For Good<\/a>\u00a0<em>has hit theaters, bringing a definitive close to a sometimes\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/cynthia-erivo-ariana-grande-holding-space-defying-gravity.html\"><em>confounding<\/em><\/a><em>, sometimes\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/cynthia-erivo-protects-ariana-grande-fan.html\"><em>surprising<\/em><\/a><em>, and always\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/ariana-grande-cynthia-erivo-wicked-crying-press-tour.html\"><em>emotional<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0press tour. Director Jon M. Chu has spun an entire film out of the stage musical\u2019s much shorter second act, beginning with Elphaba\u2019s self-banishment from the Emerald City. <\/em>For Good<em>\u00a0also adds two new original songs, one for each lead: Glinda\u2019s heart-shattered ballad,\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cXMg-EnYiwU&amp;list=RDcXMg-EnYiwU&amp;start_radio=1\"><em>\u201cThe Girl in the Bubble,\u201d<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and Elphaba\u2019s contemplative call to action,\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kV7Ak2mJ1nA&amp;list=RDkV7Ak2mJ1nA&amp;start_radio=1\"><em>\u201cNo Place Like Home.\u201d<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0I sat down with theater critic Jackson McHenry and writer Rebecca Alter \u2014 also known as Vulture\u2019s\u00a0<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DRUssYVgf9H\/?hl=fr\"><em>senior bucket critic<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0\u2014 to go deep on the music in\u00a0For Good. \u2014Jasmine Vojdani, senior newsletter editor<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ymhn00143b78e56n25v0@published\" data-word-count=\"76\"><strong>Rebecca, you wrote about these\u00a0<\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/the-two-new-wicked-for-good-songs-explained.html\"><strong>two original songs<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0when we had only 30-second or so clips of each. Did hearing them in full change your mind about how you felt initially?<\/strong><br \/><strong>Rebecca Alter:<\/strong>\u00a0Even though the characters are having realizations over the course of the song, in both instances, they don\u2019t sonically reflect that. They\u2019re really boring. They didn\u2019t change enough from those bits we heard \u2014 except that it felt like they both went on for quite a while.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yml700163b78vwmq2m4s@published\" data-word-count=\"73\"><strong>Jackson McHenry:\u00a0<\/strong>When they released the song list, I had questions about what they were supposed to add to the already convoluted plot of\u00a0<em>Wicked<\/em>\u2019s second act. Elphaba\u2019s song makes a little more narrative sense because you don\u2019t hear a lot from her until later on in the show with \u201cAs Long You\u2019re Mine\u201d and \u201cNo Good Deed.\u201d So you wonder about her emotional terrain as she switches from being at college to guerrilla warfare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ymn200173b782wm7f5gl@published\" data-word-count=\"92\">Glinda is already so much the focus of the second act of the show. \u201cThank Goodness\u201d has already done so much of the work there. It\u2019s one of the more narratively effective songs in the show because it\u2019s opening the second act, telling you what\u2019s going on, allowing you to see her public performance and her private doubts simultaneously. But by the time we get to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cXMg-EnYiwU&amp;list=RDcXMg-EnYiwU&amp;start_radio=1\">\u201cThe Girl in the Bubble,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Stephen Schwartz hasn\u2019t added much. Maybe a more well-crafted song that doesn\u2019t just have lyrics about what a bubble is could do more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ympe00183b78s5ay4vcl@published\" data-word-count=\"49\"><strong>Which vocal performance did you prefer in the new songs?<\/strong><br \/><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0Look, Ariana gets to do a couple of those high soprano notes in this, which are fun to hear in a\u00a0<em>it\u2019s cool to watch someone do a backflip<\/em>\u00a0way. The hook that Cynthia does in\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kV7Ak2mJ1nA&amp;list=RDkV7Ak2mJ1nA&amp;start_radio=1\">\u201cNo Place Like Home\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is a catchier hook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ymzk001a3b78aujxeimc@published\" data-word-count=\"27\"><strong>J.M.:<\/strong>\u00a0I personally have \u201cgirl in the bubble, the bright shining bubble\u201d stuck in my head. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s good, more that it\u2019s so literal it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yn18001b3b789j9d9jxx@published\" data-word-count=\"24\"><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s another instance of this being Ariana\u2019s movie thoroughly. Ariana singing to herself is more dynamic than watching Cynthia sing to the CGI animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yn2k001c3b786fbgmtpn@published\" data-word-count=\"24\"><strong>Many of whom, as we\u2019ve noticed, are Australian species.\u00a0<\/strong><br \/><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s the biggest bone I have to pick. Too many kangaroos. Is it because it\u2019s Oz?<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yn6v001e3b78653x2hni@published\" data-word-count=\"180\"><strong>What felt like a missed opportunity musically?<\/strong><br \/><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>The character that would make the most sense to add a song for is Madame Morrible. She needs a diva moment as she\u2019s summoning the tornado. She\u2019s someone whose interiority doesn\u2019t get filled out \u2014 she goes from being a teacher at the school to the press secretary for the king, or maybe she holds these jobs simultaneously? But anyway, it would be fun to have her let loose. The problem is Michelle Yeoh can\u2019t sing, so you\u2019d have to dub her or have cast someone who could really throw down. But the fact that there is more time spent on characters that are already filled out and not enough on the primary villain feels like a missed opportunity. Why does she want power? Maybe she, like Nessarose and Elphaba, was also an outcast and has made a choice about collaborating with the regime to get power, much like she wants Glinda to do. She can control the weather but still has decided to link up with the powerless wizard? There\u2019s a story there!<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yncs001g3b78gl0nd3b4@published\" data-word-count=\"52\"><strong>R.A.: <\/strong>The thing about turning\u00a0<em>Wicked<\/em>\u00a0the musical into two entire movies is you could have had a bit more room to flesh out some stuff that doesn\u2019t make sense onstage. You allow it onstage because things don\u2019t have to make sense in the way they have to do when you\u2019re in close-up onscreen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yned001h3b78v5y2cqwf@published\" data-word-count=\"11\"><strong>J.M.:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s also a mistake that both the new songs are down-tempo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi9c2w2700143b7830igtuvt@published\" data-word-count=\"10\"><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0We needed another <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NF3WEBjSE60&amp;list=RDNF3WEBjSE60&amp;start_radio=1\">\u201cDancing Through Life.\u201d<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fNQKANYp5hA&amp;list=RDfNQKANYp5hA&amp;start_radio=1\">\u201cWonderful\u201d<\/a> does not count.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynis001j3b78sonc1bzc@published\" data-word-count=\"51\"><strong>Dare we go into the lyrics?<\/strong><br \/><strong>J.M.:<\/strong>\u00a0I think we need to conduct a thorough investigation into the decision to use \u201cunsee\u201d in a song lyric in \u201cGirl in the Bubble.\u201d It feels simultaneously like an attempt to do an Oz-y word but also to sound current, which is a dangerous writing choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynmc001l3b78crylga9q@published\" data-word-count=\"8\"><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>No, because then it would be like \u201cunsee-ify.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynog001m3b78mr6nppsw@published\" data-word-count=\"44\"><strong>J.M.:<\/strong>\u00a0That would actually be better! \u201cThe Girl in the Bubble\u201d is so committed to this one metaphor that it doesn\u2019t really develop. \u201cNo Place Like Home\u201d feels so prosaic. They\u2019re both stuck in one idea. Neither one gets another step in its lyric imagery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynqc001n3b78co2znfmi@published\" data-word-count=\"45\"><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA place that seems to be devolving and even wanting to\u201d from \u201cNo Place Like Home\u201d \u2014 that line sucks to be sung. But there\u2019s something very Disneyish and warm to \u201cif we just keep fighting for it, we will win back and restore it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynsv001o3b788x9fpqdg@published\" data-word-count=\"89\"><strong>Let\u2019s talk about the original musical\u2019s songs. Did you notice anything interesting about the movie\u2019s approach to staging them?<\/strong><br \/><strong>J.M.: <\/strong>It\u2019s crazy that they start with a megamix of the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/review-wicked-is-as-enchanting-as-it-is-exhausting.html\">Act One<\/a>\u00a0songs. It\u2019s sort of like doing an entr\u2019acte with the orchestra doing the motifs, but instead it\u2019s the characters doing it. It also sets the tone of \u201cThis is a silly movie,\u201d which I appreciated. It\u2019s so messy and beholden to the incentives of commercializing the product to be like, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to remind these people of the first movie!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynx9001q3b780a2uiaq5@published\" data-word-count=\"26\"><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>I like that they slow down early on to give Glinda her \u201cThank Goodness,\u201d and she gets to be really intentional with how she phrases it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99ynz0001r3b78wqq1wb9j@published\" data-word-count=\"89\"><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWonderful\u201d is kind of an unsalvageable song, but the decision to include Glinda in it is interesting and gives an excuse for Ariana and Cynthia to be in the room together. But the movie devotes way too much time to that song. I also appreciated Cynthia\u2019s riff on \u201cFiyerooooo\u201d in \u201cNo Good Deed,\u201d though the rest of that song tends to be more technically perfect than rawly head-banging and emotional. Also, that song is shot like it is set on an anti-gravity planet in a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/2014\/07\/guardians-of-the-galaxy-movie-review.html\"><em>Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0<\/em>movie. Ugly!<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yo0v001s3b78wg8ar5w5@published\" data-word-count=\"81\"><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em>\u00a0has musical numbers that are shot and staged better. \u201cNo Good Deed\u201d is Cynthia\u2019s time to truly shine, and the film puts her in her floating castle surrounded by these batlike monkeys flapping around her \u2014 I hate to see it. They also do this flashback thing where Elphaba\u2019s walking through scenes from the first movie. The black-and-white footage of Fiyero getting beat up was some of the ugliest imagery I\u2019ve seen in a movie in a while.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yo2m001t3b784po2z7bi@published\" data-word-count=\"25\"><strong>J.M.:<\/strong>\u00a0If any song should be built around as few cuts as possible, it\u2019s this one. Let her sell it in her face and her voice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yo5i001u3b78rrydsmms@published\" data-word-count=\"99\"><strong>What musical moment landed the best for you?<\/strong><br \/><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=okc6XJ0ZBTk&amp;list=RDokc6XJ0ZBTk&amp;start_radio=1\">The reprise of \u201cI\u2019m Not That Girl,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by Glinda, which I think Ariana Grande sings heartbreakingly well. There\u2019s so much attention paid to Grande imitating Kristin Chenoweth\u2019s operatic soprano, which she\u2019s good at, if not as bell-like and clear as Chenoweth can be with her signature high notes (hardly anyone is). But Grande has an underdiscussed rich lower register, and Glinda famously starts singing lower and lower through the show as she gets less fake and more real. It was fun to see Ariana go along that journey. And I love a reprise!<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yoem001w3b78henij33g@published\" data-word-count=\"63\"><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>I still get chills in\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aO8SiN8H6EQ&amp;list=RDaO8SiN8H6EQ&amp;start_radio=1\">\u201cFor Good\u201d<\/a>\u00a0where Glinda sings the lower harmony and Elphaba\u2019s singing the upper one. They\u2019ve been changed! And because it\u2019s in close-up in the movie, you can focus on that. The first movie was at its best every time it was just Ariana as Glinda being in love \u2014\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/ariana-grande-wicked-glinda-queer.html\">whatever type of love<\/a>\u00a0you choose to interpret it as \u2014 with Elphaba.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yogg001x3b78tlufrdjz@published\" data-word-count=\"12\"><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>Ariana has a great sad face. She flutters her eyelids really well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yoi4001y3b783g7vjh1s@published\" data-word-count=\"37\"><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0I judge male actors based on how they\u00a0<em>look\u00a0<\/em>at a woman onscreen, how charged or deep it feels. How do they behold the girl? Ariana is randomly really good at pulling that off. She\u2019s so good at\u00a0<em>looking at\u00a0<\/em>Cynthia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yojr001z3b788p7lbuim@published\" data-word-count=\"69\"><strong>How does she compare to Fiyero in that regard?<\/strong><br \/><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0[<em>Laughs<\/em>] I\u2019ve never seen an \u201cAs Long As You\u2019re Mine\u201d\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/im-being-driven-insane-by-wicked-for-goods-sex-cardigan.html\">like this<\/a>. The chemistry is not there. It is so fun and fabulous, but they\u2019re not making eye contact. It reminded me of\u00a0<em>Twilight<\/em>, this sort of failed intense fantastical eroticism. The intensity at which they\u2019re trying to depict a romance with a lack of chemical reality is sublime in its own way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yoth00213b78m816jsqf@published\" data-word-count=\"50\"><strong>What else did you want from the film musically?<\/strong><br \/><strong>R.A.:<\/strong>\u00a0I would have liked\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/jonathan-bailey-sexiest-man-alive-2025.html\">Jonathan Bailey<\/a>\u00a0to sing more. And he doesn\u2019t make a meal out of his lines that are supposed to be funny. This act of the stage show is messy, but some of these lines are still meant to be funny.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yoxz00233b780zm0mww2@published\" data-word-count=\"44\"><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>Marissa Bode does a good job with \u201cThe Wicked Witch of the East.\u201d Ethan Slater is good in that scene. People are mad that she doesn\u2019t full-on belt the climax online, but I\u2019m fine with holding back there and letting Nessarose be more interior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yp0100243b78y2mt23sn@published\" data-word-count=\"95\"><strong>Jackson, you said you noticed something about Glinda\u2019s apartment during \u201cThe Girl in the Bubble.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><br \/><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>While disassociating from the lyrics of that song, I noticed her apartment looks like Padm\u00e9 Amidala\u2019s in\u00a0<em>Star Wars: Attack of the Clones<\/em>. I just want it on the record that the Emerald City looks a lot like Coruscant. Also, that movie is George Lucas playing with genre film and sword-and-sandals\/noir\/detective\/high-melodrama romance and having\u00a0<em>fun<\/em>with it.\u00a0<em>Wicked: For Good<\/em>\u00a0actually could have learned a lot from\u00a0<em>Attack of the Clones<\/em>! This movie is too often humorless and dutiful. The stage musical does more winking at itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi99yp3700263b78rzhyyrhk@published\" data-word-count=\"64\"><strong>R.A.:\u00a0<\/strong>While writing about\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/wicked-for-good-fiyero-is-like-the-oz-christ.html\">Fiyero having his own little Passion of the Christ<\/a>\u00a0off to the side during \u201cNo Good Deed,\u201d I was watching an old recording of\u00a0<em>Wicked<\/em>\u00a0onstage. There\u2019s a lot of laugh moments in the whole scene leading up to it. And it\u2019s just played\u00a0<em>so<\/em>\u00a0dead serious in the movie, and that\u2019s a wider issue. People in our screening audience were not laughing at the joke moments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"clay-paragraph\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"www.vulture.com\/_components\/clay-paragraph\/instances\/cmi9c1vpr000t3b78a5m1ui7z@published\" data-word-count=\"143\"><strong>J.M.:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s a way to be swashbuckling with it, to be old Hollywood, as in \u201cwe\u2019re doing this, we\u2019re having fun\u00a0<em>with<\/em>it, but we\u2019re not making fun\u00a0<em>of<\/em>\u00a0it.\u201d I think a lot of blockbuster movies have gotten either too irony-poisoned or just entirely afraid of irony. There is a zone that is not diminishing the thing you\u2019re doing but embracing the fun of being on this adventure in a sort of Errol Flynn or Gene Kelly way. Jonathan Bailey could play well but is not asked to. Ariana and Cynthia are so earnest, God bless them, though Ariana does have a lot more of a knack for humor. The genre can be silly and deeply emotional, not either\/or, and those things can fuse into and fuel each other. I wish there were more of a sense of \u201cIsn\u2019t it fun that we got away with this?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vulture.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Giles Keyte\/Universal Pictures This is the latest edition of\u00a0The Critics, our weekly roundup of critical reviews, essays, and conversations. Want to have it arrive in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here: Sign up for The Critics A weekly dispatch on the cultural discourse, for subscribers only. 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