A number of musicals have won Best Picture over the years, and another contender for this year’s Awards Season will be Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good. The first movie, which is streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription, adapted the first act of the stage musical, and the sequel will show its conclusion. I’m an apologist for Act 2 of the Tony-winning hit, but I can’t defend the new additions to the music.
What we know about Wicked: For Good was limited ahead of its release, but the movie’s soundtrack list revealed that two new songs were added. Namely “The Girl in The Bubble” and “No Place Like Home”, sung by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, respectively. Unfortunately, these new songs by the great Stephen Schwartz failed to measure up to the tracks originally featured in the Broadway musical. Let’s break it all down.
Wicked: For Good’s New Songs And Other Additions Couldn’t Compare To The Originals
Splitting Wicked into two movies sounded like a risk at first, but I fully co-sign this decision. This choice made sure that none of the beloved songs from the musical were cut, and also allowed for the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba be even more fleshed out. Since Act 2 is usually shorter than the first, this also meant that For Good had the screentime to add two new tracks just for the movie (and presumably to try and get Best Original Song nominations during Awards Season).
Unfortunately, the new songs simply didn’t have the same ear worm quality as their predecessors. In fact, I was shocked by how non-melodic these tracks were, especially compared to the no-skips nature of the Original Broadway Cast Recording. And while “The Girl In The Bubble” helped the audience get into Glinda’s POV, we already had that moment in “Thank Goodness.”
I saw For Good in a private screening filled with theater kids, so in theory we would have been the ideal audience to enjoy Schwartz’ two new songs. But it was a pretty clear consensus that the two new additions weren’t up to snuff with the rest of Wicked‘s beloved score.
It wasn’t just the two new songs that got this reaction, though. There were new introductions added to both “Wonderful” and “The Wicked Witch of The East” that were similarly non-melodic. The latter was particularly bothersome for me, since the movie is the first time Nessa’s Act 2 feature was given a proper recording. While I wouldn’t have mind if lyrics were changed to make the song less ableist, the new intro felt out of place.
It’s important that “The Wicked Witch Of The East“‘s melody is introduced early on, but that didn’t happen. What’s more, another section of the underrated track ended up being spoken by actress Marissa Bode. So once again I felt like the song I love so much didn’t get its fair shake.
Wicked: For Good is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, complete with its new music. We’ll just have to wait and see if audiences agree or disagree with my take.