A screening of The Wizard of Oz is one of the UK’s most enduring festive traditions, as common a ritual as eating mince pies and drinking sherry. Director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good offers an alternative option for this year. Based on Act Two of the successful Broadway musical, the sequel to last year’s Wicked, the first film’s themes of identity, prejudice, power dynamics, and morality are expanded to examine political manipulation, propaganda/fake news, immigration, and fighting fascism.

The construction of the yellow brick road continues, with brutally forced animal labour. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), The Wicked Witch of the West, can’t bear to see the cruelty and uses her magic powers to set the animals free. This triggers Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), the Wizard’s secretary, to launch a campaign of fake news bad-mouthing Elphaba, and thus begins the latest battle between good and evil. The MAGA-like residents of Oz are easily fooled, so whipping them up into an anti-Elphaba frenzy is a simple task. Meanwhile, Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande), a simple-minded witch without any true magical powers, but essentially with a good heart, considers whether to trademark the word ‘Good’. She’s more concerned with her forthcoming marriage to Fiyero (the dashing Jonathan Bailey), a marriage that he’s surprised to be involved in, and is feeling somewhat corralled into. He is tasked with capturing Elphaba, but also has romantic feelings for her, leading to a tricky love triangle between the three of them. Elphaba’s wheelchair-bound half-sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), now a governor of Oz, is splitting up with her partner Boq (Ethan Rose) and blames Elphaba for her predicament. Elphaba tried to increase Nessarose’s appeal to Boq by giving her shoes magic powers.

Jeff Goldblum’s dark, twisted Wizard has created a hostile environment for the animals in Oz, so they are leaving in droves. Elphaba wants them to stay and fight for Oz. Elphaba and Glinda meet the Wizard to try and resolve the issues but he’s as untrustworthy as ever. In full Trumpian mode he declares that the people of Oz will never stop believing him. “The truth is just what the people believe.” With the wizard up to no good, and the risk of losing her love Fiyero forever to Glinda with their imminent marriage, plus the welfare of Oz’s animals at risk, what can Elphaba do to create peace and love in Oz?

It’s rare for a sequel to surpass the original but Chu has achieved this with Wicked: For Good. Filmed at the same time as Wicked, the chemistry and energy of the cast continues in the same vein, but with added political energy, all the more relevant given the shoddy current antics of the MAGA movement. The original Wizard of Oz also, of course, had strong political messaging – the Tin Man and Scarecrow respectively representing maligned industrial workers and farmers, the Wizard a symbol of corrupt politicians and the green Emerald City, an illusion of wealth. Wicked: For Good’s Wizard could be Trump, Madame Morrible, Pam Bondi, the animals can be the Democrats and the diverse Munchkins the ICE-hounded US Hispanics.  Unfortunately, there’s no outstanding Democrat politician at the moment to be Elphaba.

Wicked: For Good is again an assault on the senses. The animals are brilliant, as are the sets and crowd scenes. Magnificent production design, special effects and costumes will no doubt fuel further Oscar wins. The cast are as strong as before, and again, more of Jonathan Bailey would have been welcome. He’s not used to his full potential, nor is Colman Domingo, given the briefest of speaking roles as the voice of the Cowardly Lion. Grande is petite and perfect, sweetly naïve and sisterly, although her music, and the film’s songs in general all sound very similar. Elviro is outstanding, a true leader. The plot is very nuanced and ties in cleverly with the original film – we see the return of Dorothy, Toto and her comrades, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, albeit in an oddly subtle way. A surreal flight of the imagination, very rooted in current political reality. Fantastically watchable.

4/5