Depraved: For Good thus opens a bit like a superhero flick with the now rebellious Elphaba performing outlaw acts of heroism by attacking the Wizard of Oz’s minions as they drive enslaved animal labor to construct his valuable Yellow Brick Street. Through the sequence, we get truncated reprises of “No One Mourns the Depraved.” Afterward the lyrics of “What Is This Feeling?” and some bars of “In style” are rewritten and recontextualized for sequel table-setting exposition as we’re reintroduced to Glinda; as of late she has passively agreed to grow to be “the Good Witch” face of propaganda for the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum). The bits of the outdated songs are helpful in reminding audiences the place we left off with these characters a yr in the past, though one can not assist however really feel the cynicism of reminding prospects of the music and even dance choreography that captured their hearts in minds in one other, higher movie.
It units the stage for each the virtues and vulnerabilities of Depraved: For Good writ giant. That is nonetheless a film with the identical charming solid, the identical beautiful manufacturing design of artwork deco inexperienced and pink by Nathan Crowley, and undoubtedly a lot of the identical music. However to justify the shorter (and albeit all the time worse) second act of the musical getting its personal movie, the narrative, character beats, and that wonderful music is uniformly padded out as we stroll as an alternative of run towards the final thrust of Depraved’s climax: Elphie and Glinda are divided by the inexperienced one’s devotion to the reality and doing what is true versus Glinda’s fondness for what’s protected and cozy.
Between that central battle lies a number of different narrative strands, together with the evolving loyalties of the dashing Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), now promoted to Captain of the Guards, in addition to Elphie’s disabled sister Nessa (Marissa Bode) and the sinister Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), basically an Ozian Joseph Goebbels. Any and all will face a reckoning when a gal named Dorothy involves city. Nonetheless, in its coronary heart of hearts, it is a two-hander about two powerhouse performances which may discover nice concord each time Depraved: For Good swings again round to the higher musical numbers written almost 25 years in the past for the stage.
Certainly, the titular “For Good,” a remaining duet between the leads, is a heartfelt weepy that speaks to the mysteries of true, transformative friendship that to today leaves younger theatergoers bawling. Generally their dad and mom too. Grande additionally will get a wonderful solo in “Thank Goodness.” it’s not almost as bubbly or tourist-friendly as “In style,” however it reveals newfound dimensionality to Grande’s efficiency of Glinda, which within the sequel exceeds the stage present’s curiosity in exploring and judging her complicity in Oz’s merciless regime. Equally, newly added lyrics to the Wizard’s “Fantastic,” an old-timey Vaudeville quantity for Goldblum’s carnie-turned-despot, really feel intentionally up to date for a contemporary world the place the specter of encroaching corruption and oppression shouldn’t be so summary.
When composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz is just including new context to his outdated songs, as with “Fantastic,” the impact will be grand. Along with making the music up to date for our fashionable, orange-hued Oz, tweaks enable for extra display time between Erivo, Grande, and Goldblum—which might be the spotlight of For Good. But when Schwartz is writing fully new songs as a way to theoretically beef up a second movie, and presumably to present Erivo an enormous solo since Elphie by no means fairly had one in Act Two, the movie runs right into a recurring drawback: lengthy stretches of stifled momentum and vitality, which appear straight proportionate to the necessity to flip a climactic cost right into a dawdle by way of the poppy discipline.
Consequently, points that appeared mildly off-putting within the first Depraved, such because the unusual alternative to hunt a washed out lighting and colour palette in areas as vibrant because the Emerald Metropolis, grow to be extra obvious within the sequel. And the bits that all the time felt a wee contrived or melodramatic on stage, such because the decision of Elphie and Nessa’s relationship, are met by new scenes of comparable or larger soapiness in Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox’s screenplay.
