How the Film Version of 'Wicked’s' 'Popular' Represents the Brilliance of Its Adaptation

After years of stewing in development hell, Wicked has finally emerged on the big screen as a massive pop culture event. We’ll never truly know how or why this particular Broadway musical adaptation took eons to hit theaters while, say, The Prom or Dear Evan Hansen got film adaptations within years of premiering in New York. However, it’s easy to imagine that one problem plaguing Wicked was how on Earth to adapt musical numbers and emotional beats that audiences hold dear. In a worst-case scenario, that indecisiveness could have seeped through the screen and created a motion picture rife with problems.

Instead, Wicked’s final form radiates confidence and a clear vision for translating beloved Broadway ditties into a feature film format. Nothing better encapsulates this motion picture’s wise approach to translating material to a new medium than this iteration of “Popular.” If you’re a theatre kid, chances are you’ve listened and re-listened to “Popular” more times than you’d care to admit. However, director Jon M. Chu and company make “Popular” feel brand new within these confines thanks to Wicked’s style of adapting familiar musical numbers.

Thanks to the Fair Park musical series in Dallas, I saw a touring version of Wicked once on stage nearly a decade ago. For most of my life, though, my exposure to Wicked songs like “Popular” was through listening to the original cast recording soundtrack. When you absorb a song enough times, you’re bound to come up with a vision (whether impressionistic or more concretely defined) for it in your head. In my case, I always envisioned Kristin Chenoweth’s “Popular” as being very much a showcase for this woman’s Glinda. Specifically, in my brain, it was also a tune where Elphaba was strictly a passive figure staring agog at Glinda’s musings on the world and the outfits this bubbly lady wants to put her in.

This imagined version of the tune culminated in Glinda putting some goofy, extravagant non-Elphaba dress on this witch (“Oh Miss Elphaba, look at you…you’re beautiful!”), which finally inspires Wicked’s lead character to rip off the costume and leave in a hurry (“I…I have to go”). The version of “Popular” I’ve been most exposed to left me in charge of the visual details. This means I’ve had a concrete vision for how “Popular” should look…and Wicked excitingly subverts it. This Ariana Grande/Cynthia Erivo duet isn’t at all like what I pictured or heard for years. That’s very much for the best.

In our modern cultural landscape, art is now designed to tickle people’s nostalgia to absurd degrees. Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan in the live-action Star Wars shows has to look EXACTLY like she did in the cartoon shows. Michael Keaton must be drummed back to growl “I’m Batman” once more. Live-action remakes of animated Disney classics rigidly adhere to old narrative hallmarks with infinitely less inspired visual impulses. Wicked certainly indulges in some of these traits, including in some cameos from initial Wicked cast members. However, “Popular” exemplifies how this musical also gives people something new to accompany the familiar.

For starters, Glinda is no longer the only participant in “Popular.” My vision of Elphaba just being tossed around a stage by Glinda does not get recreated here. Glinda drives the tune, but Elphaba is a much more active participant in the song. Often, the musical number feels more like a back-and-forth conversation between friends than the original incarnation that registered as Glinda giving a grand speech to Elphaba. Here, though, there’s a bit more interaction between the two women. The best of these is Elphaba brightly responding “popular!” to Glinda’s declaration of “They were…” toward the end of the song. It’s not just a standout choice because of Cynthia Erivo’s absolutely adorable line delivery. It shows some discernible communication between the characters.

There’s also a tad more humanity from Glinda in this incarnation of “Popular.” That’s apparent right from the get-go in Grande’s slightly self-aware delivery of “and let’s face it…who isn’t?” at the start of the tune. The song still delightfully radiates Glinda’s status as a clueless neo-liberal white woman incarnate, including the gusto-filled final delivery of “just not quite as popular as me.” However, a little more self-recognition and compassion peeks through in Glinda’s vocals. Thanks to qualities like Grande’s performance, deeply familiar lyrics take on new meanings and lend fresh insight into Glinda’s personality.

Speaking of “fresh” qualities within this song, Chu and cinematographer Alice Walker inject some idiosyncratic visuals into this sequence that just wouldn’t be possible on stage. Most strikingly, Glinda’s first burst of “la-la-la-la” is executed in a God’s-eye-view shot. Here, Elphaba lies on her back on a table while Glinda “swims” across the wooden floor. This camera position makes the wildly contrasting physicality between the two performers so amusingly stark—as if Grande’s shimmying across the floor wasn’t already incredibly hysterical! Capturing that specific angle would be difficult to execute on a Broadway stage. An amusing bit of physicality where Glinda obliviously courts danger while tightrope-walking on a precarious balustrade could also struggle to radiate in the theatre.

Chu and editor Myron Kerstein also excitingly evoke hallmarks of fashion montages in this sequence. The whole scene’s emphasis on Glinda opening up various wardrobes and dabbing in makeup routines can’t help but remind one of the most iconic fashion montages in history. A series of cuts between Elphaba wearing various headdresses, though, especially harken back to this strain of cinema. This doesn’t just make for exciting moviegoing (who doesn’t love a fashion/makeover montage?); it’s also a flourish firmly rooted in cinema’s visual language. “Popular” comes to the screen evoking Sergei Eisenstein and girly sleepover movies.

Other Broadway musical movie adaptations, like the 1950s Oklahoma!, are too rigidly committed to just filming what you can see on the stage. “Popular’s” deeply specific editing and cinematic influences give this musical number something unique compared to its stage counterpart.

“Popular’s” greatest deviation from expectations, though, comes in its conclusion. Decades of listening to “Popular” endlessly led me to imagine this tune ends in Glinda being oblivious to Elphaba’s discomfort. That’s, of course, not what happens in the original stage version, with the absence of key dialogue like “pink goes good with green” leading to my misinterpretation. A soft moment of Glinda putting a flower in Elphaba’s hair and remarking “you’re beautiful” concludes “Popular” on a tender note that Wicked as a movie maintains.

Still, even between the two incarnations of this conclusion, the Wicked movie’s “Popular” makes some fascinating and welcome changes. For starters, Elphaba and Glinda no longer burst into tittering laughter after the former character looks at herself in the mirror. Chu instills a welcome pause into this bonding, as both women gaze upon their reflections. The significance of this moment (possibly the first time Elphaba has ever heard she’s beautiful) really sinks in. Meanwhile, Erivo’s delivery of “I have to go” is now quieter, tinged with hesitation. She practically whispers those words, as if saying them any louder would pop this bubble of joy she’s encased in.

The obligations of reality beckon Elphaba, but she also realizes how special this moment is. She departs with the heaviest reluctance, hence the new emotions injected into Elphaba’s final “Popular” line. After she departs, Glinda waltzes around the hallway right outside their dorm room, which is now decked out in gloriously bright pink. This sharply contrasts with what appears to be the default visual scheme of “Popular” on stage. There, Elphaba and Glinda are cast in a spotlight against a fully black background. Here, a more concrete backdrop is incorporated as well as a more varied color palette. Glinda’s joy over making headway with Elphaba now manifests in surrounding hues.

Oh, and there’s one other important variation on the movie version of “Popular”: the even more prominent lesbian subtext. The world of Oz inspired the gay anthem “Over the Rainbow” and the phrase “friends of Dorothy.” Most properties connected to this domain are intertwined with queer sensibilities. Heck, the most forgotten Oz properties (Oz the Great and Powerful or that limited series Emerald City) eschew distinctly gay qualities. A musical like Wicked, unsurprisingly, would always resonate as super-queer, especially since the original Joseph Maguire-penned source material has always spawned queer and intersex interpretations.

However, the movie version of “Popular” really hammers home a distinctly “Harold, they’re lesbians” ambiance. Glinda’s early declaration of “You … will … be …” is told through her inching closer and closer to Elphaba’s face in a tight close-up, for goodness’ sake. Glinda prances around Elphaba the entire number in a fluffy pink nightgown. The two snuggle close for a final moment where they gaze at Elphaba’s reflection. Heck, one of these characters is played by openly queer performer Cynthia Erivo, who just exudes glorious queer energy in all her on-screen work. A motion picture affords more framing than a stage show would allow. Cameras put audiences right next to the characters, which enhances Elphaba and Glinda’s intimacy in this scene. Throw in the super-queer color palette (like the walls being decked in pink for the final verse), and “Popular” resonates as more Jamie Babbit-coded than expected.

I walked into Wicked thinking I knew this property like the back of my hand. My expectations of this being a star-studded cover band show rapidly dissipated as the visual and emotional intelligence on display quickly became apparent. The new flourishes integrated into “Popular” encapsulate these distinctive touches, allowing Wicked as a movie to take on a new identity rather than just bask in the shadow of its stage musical predecessor.

Giving people what they want and know is easy. “Popular” in movie form goes the bolder Last Jedi-esque route of trying new things. In the process, Wicked delivers a cinematic musical number as beautiful as Elphaba and as entertaining as Glinda. It honors the stage show’s legacy while daring to carve out its own identity. If “Popular” is any indication, this adaptation doesn’t just rehash; it reinvents, leaving viewers enchanted by the familiar while reveling in the unexpected.

Lisa Laman is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and freelance writer living both on the autism spectrum and in Texas.