Wicked

Knock, knock.

All right.

-We're here. -We are.

We are gonna be doing this commentary for you.

-I'm Cynthia. -I'm Ariana.

-I play Elphaba. -I play Galinda.

And I hope you enjoy our little commentary on our movie

that we're about to give to you right now.

This logo, I'm jumping right in,

is my favorite thing in the whole wide world.

-Yeah. -This vintage Universal Pictures

-with the green... -And the pink.

-... is just so pretty. -Yeah.

-We love that reimagining. -We do.

Here we go.

The wonderful thing about this is that

we're kind of starting from the end to get to the beginning.

And there are loads of Easter eggs in here that we don't wanna give to you just yet,

but if you pay attention closely, you'll get plenty of clues

-about what actually happens. -As to where we... what happens.

Yeah.

The melting occurred at the 13th hour.

There's the twister.

The direct result of a bucket of water thrown by a female child.

-A female child. -Female child.

Emphasis on a female child. Who could it be?

Who could it be? And there indeed--

I'll give you a hint. It's Dorothy. Whoops.

-Oops. -Just kidding. It is.

-There is the hat. -They know that.

Yeah.

-I love this opening so, so, so much. -Me too.

Very, very special.

-And there, the flying monkeys... -And the flying monkeys.

... whom we love.

This overture always gives me chills

and will always give me goose bumps and make me cry immediately.

There's Kiamo Ko.

Yes, that's right. We're moving past Kiamo Ko there.

And I love this little shot.

You're gonna have to look for something.

Yes. I was about to say as well.

-Even before the other something. -Yes.

There's a few somethings that you'll notice in this intro,

but we can't really tell you what they are.

-But if you'll see them... -So we're flying, and if you--

Go to The Oz Vlog and she'll be talking about it.

You will notice that what we are doing right now is flying over something.

-Over the rainbow, one would say. -Yes.

And here come some familiar friends.

-There we go. -You might know them.

We love them.

I think what I love about the entire intro is that you are dropped in immediately,

and you're given all of the clues, all of the things that you need

to connect to the world around this particular world that we're in now.

Yes. And I love getting to know the culture of Munchkinland

and seeing them take the tulips and press them into paint.

And you'll notice that all of the colors

are colored by the actual tulip petals themselves

because that's what the Munchkins do.

Which I think comes from the Frank L. Baum books, no?

The L... Yeah.

The Witch of the West is dead

The wickedest witch there ever was

The L. Frank Baum books, mind you.

-Which is where Elphaba's name comes from. -Exactly.

All of these Munchkin huts were actually functional

and had little places to nap and hide a coffee or a banana in.

There's me.

Look! It's Glinda!

I'm really fond of how they sort of reimagined

the beginning of "No One Mourns the Wicked"

for the movie version.

I love that you hear these first few lines as she's coming down in the bubble.

I think it's really special and unique to us.

That was a surprise for me

because I performed the whole thing in the landed spot, in position,

the whole thing through, so that was exciting to see.

-Hi! -Glinda!

It's good to see me, isn't it?

Fellow Ozians... let me set the record straight.

Yes...

the Wicked Witch of the West is dead!

Isn't it nice to know

What I love so much about this song, "No One Mourns the Wicked,"

is how hard it is for Glinda to be there, saying these things to these people

and celebrating and rejoicifying with them

when she's grieving her friend in real time.

You know, she's obviously having to do a hard thing here

by celebrating what she's singing about

while the lyrics are also her trying to spoon-feed them

the idea that wickedness happened to her.

Give her a chance.

Even though she's there doing this thing she knows she's supposed to do,

rejoicify with them and celebrate this news,

the lyrics, she's actually still fighting for her friend, for them to understand.

She's giving them a chance.

She's holding out a hand, saying,

"But give her a chance, even though this is where we're at

and I have this job to do."

She's actually asking them to humanize her.

Goodness knows

The Wicked die alone

It just shows when you're Wicked

You're left only

On your own

It is an impossible position to be in, you know, for her at this moment.

The Wicked's lives are lonely

There's Summer spinning in the back. Summer Strallen.

-Where? -Right there.

-In the blue dress? -Yes, in the blue and the plaid skirt.

Summer Strallen, who also happens to be a really good friend of mine,

is part of a very infamous family

in musical theater and performance,

the Strallens.

And she was pregnant here with the bubble baby.

Very much, yeah.

-And she has now had the bubble baby. -Yes.

One many people find confusifying.

Are people born Wicked?

That's Hattie. She was so sweet and so good in this scene.

-The little girl? -Yes.

After all,

the Wicked Witch had a childhood.

She had a father,

who, by the way, had been appointed governor of Munchkinland.

Here comes Andy Nyman, everyone.

I'm obsessed with her.

How I hate to go and leave you lonely

That's all right, it's only just one night

But know that you're here in my heart

While I'm out of your sight

This shot coming up right here,

-this little face she makes here... -I love the change she makes, yeah.

... it's one of my favorite parts of the movie.

I like the transition that she makes from being the sweet, like, loving wife

to someone who is, like, devious and much darker.

It's fab.

And the choreography in this by Chris is just really special.

-Chris Scott, our brilliant choreographer. -Fantastic.

This is one of my favorite little dance sections too.

It's so good.

And I think this was done in a oner, which means--

-They didn't cut the whole time. -Correct.

If we're finishing each other's sentences, it happens sometimes.

Sorry.

And one thing led to another, as it so often does.

But from the moment the Witch was born, she was...

-Dulcibear! -... well...

different.

-It's coming! -Now?

So when they were shooting this, I visited the set

and I met the little baby who is baby-baby Elphaba

and she was the sweetest,

most darling, most peaceful little baby I've ever met.

And obviously, she's a twin, so we met both of them.

They were sweet.

And we say "obviously" because they're so young

that they can't work for more than one minute, you know?

So they switch off, which is crazy.

I actually think about this every time I see this scene.

What is it... Like, how do you...

Does that baby have an agent? Like, what does that look like?

Are there baby agents?

Does he have a stack of headshots that are like, "This one's one minute old"?

-I don't know. I have no idea. -How does this work?

I do believe there's a modeling agency about babies.

I wanna write a movie about the baby agents.

Child agents that, from the beginning of life to four or something...

-You know what I mean, though? -Yeah.

It's all right, little one.

We'll look after you.

Fun fact: the voice of this bear is an incredible actress.

Sharon D. Clarke is one of the most amazing actresses ever.

Olivier winner, I believe.

And I only found that out after the film was made.

Watch your baby sister. Just a clock tick.

A really thoughtful and beautiful thing that they did for this film was,

every role, whether it's voice-over or some of the supporting actors

or, like, my mom, Glinda's mom and dad,

they tried to use as many actors and actresses as possible

that had been involved in Wicked ,

whether it was, like, a tour or the West End production.

They put so many Glindas and Elphabas in with us

as, like, a tribute to the many witches that we love.

Even though they are green.

And Nessa, you want to know a secret?

This little girl playing young Elphaba, Karis,

-who is just darling... -Brilliant.

... and brilliant and sweet,

and I got to spend a little time with her.

And she was so knowledgeable and ready to be on set.

And in this scene, what people don't realize is they're not filming together.

The little girl who's playing baby Nessa

was so frightened and so overwhelmed, so scared,

so they had to catch everything separately

and you can't tell at all because Karis is so wonderful

that she's able to act almost against nothing.

And then they pieced everything together.

So she was doing this all on her own. Sweet girl.