Wicked is a super-sized, elaborate and hip hop-influenced take on the musical

Jon M Chu’s Wicked , or Wicked Part 1 at least, arrives some two decades after the popular stage show opened on Broadway in 2003 .

It imagines the Wicked Witch of the West 's origins, and asks if she earned her name.

Ariana Grande's Glinda the Good Witch is likeable but less distinctive than Kristin Chenoweth was in the original Broadway show.

Chu’s Wicked doesn’t draw from the Golden Age Hollywood musical tradition.

His fast-paced editing borrows from the world of music videos and hip-hop.

The irresistible Dancing Through Life ’ is performed in a spinning circular vault.

Bailey 's swagger channels Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.