Appearing a year -- almost to the day -- after
Wicked
,
Wicked: For Good
concludes the nearly five-hour
Jon M. Chu
film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical (itself based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by
Gregory Maguir
). Presumably because the show's second act is not only shorter but interspersed with musical reprises,
offers the film epic's only two new songs. Both of them written by the Broadway show's composer/lyricist,
Stephen Schwartz
, the wistful "No Place Like Home" is a solo for
Cynthia Erivo
's banished Elphaba, and
Ariana Grande
's Glinda gets a new solo titled "The Girl in the Bubble." The latter song is a regretful ballad about the ugly truth behind shiny surfaces. More-familiar tunes here include the Tin Pan Alley send-up "Wonderful," delivered by
Jeff Goldblum
as the Wizard; the romantic duet "As Long as You're Mine" by
Erivo
and
Jonathan Bailey
("Fiyero");
's much-more-serious "No Good Deed," a sweeping orchestral entry punctuated by rock drums and lyrical incantations; and the tragic "The Wicked Witch of the East" by
Marissa Bode
as Nessarose, along with
Ethan Slater
("Boq") and
. In that song, we learn the origins of the titular witch as well as the Tin Man. As was the case for the duology's first installment, the songs are more flamboyant than tuneful, and the plot is more than a little convoluted (including shadowy appearances by Dorothy Gale and revelations about other characters from the related 1939 film and
L. Frank Baum
books), but the performances are exceptional.
Grande
put a point on this with the soundtrack's closing number, "For Good," a relatively quiet, intimate moment that proves they can move audiences with and without belting. (The film's score album by
Schwartz
John Powell
was released separately.) ~ Marcy Donelson