Wicked has many cameos from Broadway stars including Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, plus many of the touring company stars too. One theater legend who didn’t get a cameo is Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda wasn’t involved with Wicked on stage but director Jon M. Chu did film Miranda’s musical In the Heights. Still, Chu rejected Miranda’s cameo request.
“When that woman says, ‘Glinda, is it true you were her friend?’ I got many calls from Lin-Manuel Miranda,” Chu said on the audio commentary track. “He might have publicly also tweeted it that he wanted to be that voice and that person but I thought it would be too distracting so sorry, Lin.”
Wicked is now available for digital purchase and loaded with extras. On Chu’s commentary, you can also hear about Michelle Yeoh’s Whatsapp, Oz cafeteria food, Wizard Easter eggs and the Millennium Falcon. Plus, all the technical explanations and problem solving with adapting scenes from the play.
On another commentary track, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reveal Munchkinland hiding spots, alternate line readings and which extras made fast friends on the set.
There’s also a 45 minute behind the scenes look. I liked seeing the behind the scenes angle on Grande swanning across the floor, as Chu calls it. You also see Erivo’s harness work for “Defying Gravity.”
There are three more short featurettes under 10 minutes each. The best part about 10 deleted scenes is the unfinished effects. You can see strings pulling newspaper with windy sound effects, and where the physical sets ended in blue screen.
In 4K, the land of Oz now looks like Pandora from Avatar. The physical sets hold up even better with their palpable textures. You can watch the epic choreography across the wide frame.
MoviesAnywhere appears a tad clearer than Fandango At Home. Perhaps there are fewer users hogging the bandwidth.
As bright as Shiz University and Emerald City shine, a few other locations like the Ice Ball, the forest and the balloon tower are fuzzier in lower light.
The musical accompaniment surrounds you with the vocals in the front. Surround effects include Glinda’s tinkling magic, applause from crowds and the balloon fire puffing back and forth across the room. The spinning book cases rumble the subwoofer.
The digital release also includes the Singalong version that was only released on Christmas Day. Really, you could just turn on subtitles, but if you only want to see words for the songs, this is the version for you.