A Smaller Elphaba Change Wicked Makes To The Musical Means Part Two Has A Bigger Challenge

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wicked.Wicked has continued to be one of the most successful movies of the year, with its solid box office success over the holidays, bolstered by the great word of mouth the film received when it first released. With Wicked: For Good officially revealing its title and release date, all eyes are now on the sequel to find the same level of success as Wicked‘s stellar reviews and box office return. While Wicked makes a number of bigger changes to the musical, there is one small alteration that makes For Good‘s job as a sequel a little more difficult.

Wicked‘s characters are definitely the biggest success to come out of the film, with Elphaba and Glinda becoming even more iconic characters than they were in the musical, and the performances by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande standing out as the best-reviewed aspects of the movie. The longer runtime of the film as opposed to the musical means that these characters can be explored in even more depth, but one aspect of Elphaba was mostly left by the wayside — concerning her wardrobe.

Elphaba Is More Stylish In The Wicked Movie Than The First Half Of The Musical

Elphaba In The Movie Is Very Fashionable When Compared To The Musical

Elphaba’s fashion comes up a bit in the film, as she dresses differently from the rest of Wicked‘s Shiz University students and staff, which eventually culminates in the iconic witch hat given to her by Glinda. However, when it comes to our real-world fashion sense, nothing Elphaba wears during the movie actually looks bad, it is just different from what the people of Oz see as good fashion. This contrasts with the musical, where even though she doesn’t look awful, she wears a somewhat unflattering blazer and skirt before transitioning to some pretty simple black dresses.

She comes back after being labeled as a fugitive with an incredible, shimmering black dress with some purple touches, signifying her big change from the first half.

In the film, Elphaba wears a couple of very nice, textured black dresses and a sharp blazer, along with the school uniform that also looks quite good on her. Even before she gets the cape and fully commits to the classic Wicked Witch of the West look, she has a solid fashion sense. On the other hand, in the musical, Elphaba’s look stays quite mundane until the second act, when she comes back after being labeled as a fugitive with an incredible, shimmering black dress with some purple touches, signifying her big change from the first half.

Elphaba’s Wardrobe In Wicked Part Two Better Be Amazing

Wicked: For Good Has To Up The Ante Even More Than The Musical

This fact then becomes an issue when the musical obviously uses Elphaba’s different fashion to enhance her transformation, from the simple student wearing plain outfits, to the Wicked Witch wearing an amazing, glittering dress. Wicked‘s Elphaba has changed the iconic look of the character, so the sequel will need to come up with something truly unique and interesting to maintain the same feeling of transformation that the show achieved. With how good the costumes are in Wicked, they absolutely have the chance to succeed, it will just require something entirely exceptional.