Jon M. Chubrings to life the world ofWicked, the beloved Broadway musical adapted from theGregory Maguirenovel of the same name. The hit musical puts its own spin onThe Wizard of Ozby giving the backstory to the Wicked Witch of the West, played byCynthia Erivo, as well as her history with Glinda (Ariana Grande).
We all know thatWickedis a stunning musical, but alongside the catchy songs and dance numbers, are fabulous quotes that perfectly tell the story. Beyond the backstory of Elphaba, the movie musical touches on some really poignant topics, such as animal rights, discrimination, and self-discovery.From the funny moments to the more emotionally heavy ones,Wickedis chock-full of fantastic quotes that touch on it all.
The story of how a green-skinned woman framed by the Wizard of Oz becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. The first of a two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical.
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10“Something is very wrong. I didn’t get my way.”
Glinda is meant to be the complete opposite of Elphaba.Where Elphaba is dark and more closed off, Glinda is very upbeat and bubbly. She’s also easily the funniest character in the movie and provides a lot of comedic relief in what can often be a very dark story. This specific line is said after Glinda unknowingly volunteers herself to be Elphaba’s roommate.
Turning to her friends, Glinda feigns lightheadedness and exasperatedly says that she didn’t get her way, so something must be wrong. This line speaks to the privilege Glinda has been afforded throughout her life up until this very moment.By the end ofWicked, this ends up being a good thing for both Glinda and Elphabasince it changed them both as people for the better.
9"I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow."
A prince from the Winkie Country, Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) effortlessly charms his Shiz University classmates to treat life less seriously. When Fiyero first arrives at Shiz University, Elphaba is the only person not fawning over him. This changes when he helps her save a lion cub.
When they release the scared lion cub into the nearby jungle, Elphaba ends up telling Fiyero that she believes his self-absorbed and shallow personality is just a front he puts on to hide his sensitive side. However, Fiyero rejects this statement and says that he is indeed “self-absorbed and deeply shallow” and it’s not just a front.It’s one of the funniest lines in the movie due to how seriously Fiyero delivers it.
8“You’re the one the Wizard has been waiting for.”
Madame Morrible
One of the most bittersweet lines is said by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), only, audiences don’t know it’s bittersweet at first. Madame Morrible is immediatelyentranced by Elphabawhen she sees her powers at work for the first time. She takes her under her wing and offers to help her harness her emotions to better get her powers under control.
Madame Morrible tells Elphaba that she is the one the Wizard has been waiting for, which leads into Elphaba’s first musical number, “The Wizard and I”. However, unbeknownst to Elphaba,Madame Morrible and the Wizard are only planning to use Elphaba for her power. So this line, as much as it delights Elphaba, only sets her up forher ultimate fate of being deemed the “Wicked Witch”.
7"She doesn’t give a twig what anyone thinks." “Of course she does. She just pretends not to.”
Fiyero and Glinda
Glinda decides to invite Elphaba to the Ozdust with the plan of humiliating her.She offers her a hat from her closet, a black, pointed hat (a witch hat), and tells her to wear it that night. When Elphaba arrives at the dance, everyone laughs at her and points, and Glinda finally realizes how unnecessarily cruel she’s been to Elphaba. When she makes her way onto the dance floor, Elphaba starts doing an interpretive dance, which only furthers the stares and laughs, except from Glinda and Fiyero, the latter of whom comments how Elphaba doesn’t seem to care what everyone thinks of her. But Glinda knows better and realizes just how far things have gone, she knows how much it’s bothering Elphaba and that she’s putting up a strong facade so as not to give her peers more ammo.
Glinda soon joins in on Elphaba’s dance and wipes her tears as they dance.It’s a turning point in their friendship; from then on they form an unbreakable bond. Still, it’s a hard scene to watch before Glinda steps in and quiets the laughing crowd, because Elphaba’s pain is raw and poignant.It’s one of the movie’s best scenesand, similarly, one of the best lines, for all that it encapsulates.
6“The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.”
The Wizard
Because the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) has no power of his own, the only way he can continue to rule over Oz is by keeping up the facade that he is as great and powerful as he’s continuously led them all to believe. To do this, he attempts to have Elphaba join him and cast spells for him, but she refuses.
He and Madame Morrible end up turning the citizens of Oz against her, which echoes his earlier statement that “the best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy.”Elphaba is that enemy, even though she isn’t actually the enemy at all,but the Wizard has the opportunity to turn everyone against her, and he does just that.
5“Her green skin is but an outward manifestory of her twisted nature. This distortion, this repulsion, this wicked witch.”
Madame Morrible initially took Elphaba under her wing and helped her harness her powers so she could someday meet the Wizard. However, this is just a front, andMadame Morrible is really in cahoots with the Wizard, and together they’re planning to have Elphaba help them with theirwickedplans. When Elphaba finds this out, however, she rebels against them and escapes, leading Madame Morrible to cast an announcement to the citizens of Oz, warning them about a dangerous new threat that must be caught.
Madame Morrible describes Elphaba in such a heinous way it’s painful to hear.For the majority of the movie, audiences are led to believe that Madame Morrible is one of the few who actually cares for Elphaba and wants what’s best for her. Instead, she’s the reason Oz turns on Elphaba, and she’s the one who gives herthe title of Wicked Witch.
4"I don’t cause commotions. I am one.”
This specific Elphaba line comes when Fiyero is helping Elphaba free the lion cub. She uses her powers to make everyone in the class, including the teacher who brought the captive cub, fall asleep. The only one who doesn’t fall under her spell is Fiyero. As he’s helping her, he asks why she causes a commotion so often, butElphaba clarifies that she doesn’t cause commotions on purpose, she just is a commotion, unintentional or not.
This stems from the fact that Elphaba’s powers come from her emotions, so when she feels deeply about something, it’s impossible for her to keep her powers at bay. This is why she causes the class to fall asleep, because she’s so upset about Dr. Dillamond’s (Peter Dinklage) sudden removal, and the lion cub’s captivity.She doesn’t mean to cause a commotion, or be one for that matter, she justis.
3“You have no real power.”
If you’ve seenThe Wizardof Oz,you already know that the Wizard is a phony. However,Wickedtakes place prior toThe Wizard of Ozso Elphaba doesn’t know that. The Wizard doesn’t have any power of his own, so he has to rely on other people to use magic for him. With the help of Madame Morrible, he gets Elphaba to come to the Emerald City and gets her to cast a spell from the Grimmerie that will give the guard monkeys wings. This devastates Elphaba as it causes the monkey’s pain, and she eventually realizes that the Wizard is using her to do his bidding.
Her cry of “You have no power!” is devastating, because you can see how defeated she is.She thought the Wizard would be able to help her and the animals of Oz, but really he is the one behind the horrible things being done in Oz. Elphaba was led to trust Madame Morrible and, in turn, the Wizard, only to be betrayed. Because of this, the entirety of Oz has turned against her. It’s hard to watch as it goes from pure joy to devastation in a matter of minutes.
2"Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"
The beginning ofWickedtakes place in Munchkinlandas Glinda comes down in a bubble, and confirms that the Wicked Witch is in fact dead. The citizens of Munchkinland rejoice over this news, and Glinda seemingly joins them, but there’s something deeper hidden in her expression that audiences don’t know the extent of until the end of the film.
As the citizens of Munchkinland celebrate Elphaba’s death, Glinda poses a question that she hopes will change their minds: “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” This doesn’t deter them from their celebration, but it does add more substance to the ultimate story of Elphaba that we learn throughout the movie. As we see, she isn’t an evil person at all. In fact, she’s quite a good person.She wants to help the animals; in fact, she even decides that she’d rather the Wizard help the animals rather than change the color of her skin, which was initially her big wish. It’s the citizens of Oz who made her out to be wicked, all because they were told she was. Nobody got to know the real Elphaba except for Glinda, soshe’s the only one who knows that Elphaba was not truly wicked, but instead was deemed wicked by her peers, thus having wickedness thrust upon her.
1“I’m not afraid. It’s the Wizard who should be afraid of me.”
After she stands up to the Wizard and refuses to help him, Elphaba and Glinda try to escape from the Wizard’s tower and the Emerald City. It’s a triumphant moment, yet a terrifying one, as there’s so much uncertainty awaiting both Glinda and Elphaba. ButElphaba boldly states that she is not afraid, and that it is the Wizard who should be afraid of her– not the other way around.
It’s a huge moment of growth for Elphaba, andit sets up for her arc inWicked Part 2. The second part is when she fully becomes the Wicked Witch, and this moment is her letting everyone know that she’s not afraid of that fate. She’s going to defeat the Wizard, and she’ll do it by any means necessary. He’s not going to bring her down, nor will the citizens of Oz. This, and the entirety of the final scene, is Elphaba claiming her power and confidence, andit’s a complete change from the Elphaba we met at the beginning of the movie. As heartwrenching as it is to know what awaits her, with Madame Morrible already spreading the word that she iswicked,this is still a hugely poignant Elphaba moment.
