Home / Arts and Entertainment / Wicked Film Adaptation Splits Story, Adds New Songs to Expand Narrative
Wicked Film Adaptation Splits Story, Adds New Songs to Expand Narrative
6 Nov
Summary
- Director Jon M. Chu collaborates with composer Stephen Schwartz to craft two new songs for the film
- Singers Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande perform live vocals, presenting editing challenges
- Splitting the story into two parts allows deeper exploration of Elphaba and Glinda's choices
In 2025, the highly anticipated film adaptation of the beloved musical Wicked is set to hit theaters. However, the task of translating the songs and script onto the big screen has proven to be no easy feat for director Jon M. Chu and his team.
One of the key decisions made was to bisect the story into two separate parts, which called for some creative solutions to build out a cohesive narrative. To this end, Chu collaborated with composer Stephen Schwartz to craft two new songs - "The Girl in the Bubble" sung by Ariana Grande, and "No Place Like Home" sung by Cynthia Erivo.
The decision to have the actors sing live during filming also presented a number of technological challenges in the post-production process. While this approach aimed to make the songs feel larger than life, the sheer scale of the cast, choreography, and sets made the ensemble numbers a remarkable juggling act for the editing team.
Nonetheless, Chu was up for the challenge, drawing on his extensive experience directing music and dance-focused films, including his adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and work on the Step Up franchise. The director's commitment to staying true to the original musical he fell in love with is evident in the care and attention paid to expanding the narrative and exploring the emotional journeys of Elphaba and Glinda.
