Pop Culture Happy Hour - Wicked: For Good And What’s Making Us Happy

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

Wicked was a smash hit that earned Oscar nominations for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo–but that was only the first half of the story. Wicked: For Good has more songs, more magic, more extravagant production design, and more belting. But can it match the impact and live up to the hype of the first film?Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Last year's film adaptation of the musical Wicked, a smash hit that earned 10 Oscar nominations, was only the first half of the story. Now it's time for the second half with more songs, more magic, more extravagant production design, and more belting. Wicked for Good is every bit as splashy as the first installment, but can it match the impact of its predecessor and live up to the hype? I'm Aisha Harris. And I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about Wicked for Good. on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining us today is Waylon Wong. She's the co-host of NPR's Daily Economics Podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. Hello, Waylon. Hi, everyone. Also with us is journalist and host of the podcast, seated, Trevelle Anderson. Welcome back, Trevelle.

Hello, hello, hello. Hello. So, Wicked for Good picks up the story, which is, as you probably know, a Wizard of Oz prequel. with Elfaba, played by Cynthia Arrivo, having fled Oz to prepare to fight the wizard and Madam Morrible, who have cemented their power over Oz. Galinda, on the other hand, played by Ariana Grande, is Living It Up, now known as Glinda the Good, floating through life on the arm of Fierro, played by newly minted sexiest man alive, Jonathan Bailey. Elphaba now branded the Wicked Witch by those who want everyone to distrust her is also edging closer and closer.

to confrontation with a certain young girl from Kansas who is blown into Oz by a cyclone. References to the Wizard of Oz become more prominent and sometimes more provocative as the story continues to look at who is bad and who is good with a critical eye. Wicked for Good is in theaters. Now, I'm going to start with you, Whalen. You were with us to talk about the first Wicked, which I know you really liked. How did you like this one? I also really enjoyed this one. I think it justifies its existence and then some, which sounds like very faint praise, I realized, but I was a little bit apprehensive going into this one about could they justify the length that it is and is there enough here?

Because for me, the second half of the musical is weaker than the first half. So I had my misgivings heading into this. And honestly, I was again blown away by the performances. There are some real showstoppers in here that I just, loved. And I think this movie hits so many emotional high points for me. So when I gave myself over to the emotions of it, I really, really had a nice time. And we can talk about this later. I do think that this movie has a little bit of a Glinda character development problem that it couldn't get to the bottom of. But that is, I think, a minor note in the grand scheme of things.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I hear that. All right. Trevelle, what did you think? So I'm one of those people who didn't know the source, okay, originally speaking, saw the first movie, fell in love, then, you know, familiarized myself with what to expect in this second movie. Right. Sure. Waylon, I don't think it's just you. I think everyone is like the second half of the musical is less great than the first. Yeah. But I really enjoyed Wicked for good. I've seen it three times, you all. Oh. Why?

I do not know. But I really enjoyed it. I do agree with Wiglin that it justifies itself. But I think what I really like the most is one thing you can do or a lot of things that you can do in film with this narrative you can't do on stage. And this is a movie musical lover's movie. as the first one was as well. Yeah, for sure. I think that's true.

Aisha, you were also on the panel for the first Wicked, which I think you also liked. What did you think about this one? I think it's good enough. Wicked, good enough. Wicked for good enough. Yeah, I was like very pleasantly surprised by the first part one of Wicked, in part because I have been a Wicked fan since it came out on Broadway. And so having this very, very long gestating project, I guess I kind of underestimated or was trying to prime myself for being disappointed by the first act. And I loved it. And this one, I think, I have to slightly disagree. I don't think it really justifies making this two different movies. I could see a path for condensing it to maybe like one three hour long movie instead of like four plus or really close to five hours, I guess this is. And we can talk about the new songs that were added.

They were rough for me. Of course, Glinda and Alphabet each get their own songs because we can't give one without the other. Of course not. But still, the high parts are high. For good, the song, I was on the verge of tears. The verge, merely the verge. I had already been crying for half an hour. I don't cry very easily in movies unless it's like, you know, Mufasa dying or something. So it was like that, it moved me so much. And I think the performances here, they still transcend the whatever sort of misgivings I have about the plot. And I mean, plotting and then plotting of the plot sometimes. So, yeah, it was good enough. I still enjoyed myself. But I don't think it's quite as good as part one.

Which fair. Yeah, I get that. You know, I really enjoyed this. I came into it somewhat skeptical. Like Trevelle, I was not a big follower of this musical. The timing was just not right. The day that the guy that I was dating and I tried to get musicals tickets, we got Avenue Q instead.

Oh, that's a good one. I love Avenue. I just missed it. You know what I mean? mean. Yeah. So I never attached to it. But I think this half, although it is true that the first half is kind of more, I think maybe more fun, it's also you have your people who think the emotional pinnacle of this show is defying gravity. And then you have your people who think the emotional pinnacle of this show is for good. And I am in the second category. So to me, that scene between Elphaba and Glabwe and Gloub. Linda at the end of this film is worth the whole thing to me, even if I hadn't enjoyed the rest of it, which I mostly did. To me, that scene, that sequence is worth the whole thing. And I want to say, you know, Cynthia Arrivo is a powerhouse. I always expect her to be a powerhouse. I feel like Ariana Grande in this one finds her way a little more into her own version of Glinda. In the first movie, I really felt like I was watching a Kristen Chau. Kind of with impression a lot of the time in the diction and the phrasing and stuff like that. I feel like she makes her way into a little more of a – I mean, it's still Glinda, who's very Glinda.

But, like, I felt a little more of her and I thought she was good. I like her added song better than the Alphaba added song. Oh, I disagree. I know. What? I'm not talking about performance. I'm talking about, like, anyway. I kind of like the Glinda one better, I don't know.

Oh. True. You and I will be on the side. Either one of them is a great song and neither one of them is necessary. But yeah, in the end, I mean, Fierro has the problem of being the same kind of like underwritten love interest that women often are in so many movies. So I think it's perfect that you're the sexiest male life. Like that's, of course. Yes, fine.

Right. Sure. Why do you exist? I don't know. I mean, I do. But whatever. But I mostly did enjoy this. I mostly did enjoy it.

I did love the staging of For Good. And that was also the emotional high. I point, I think, of both movies for me. And I appreciated that it was done in a kind of more restrained manner that in a lot of ways is a huge contrast from the rest of the film with all of its technical glory and this very heightened production design. For good, it's just really focused on their faces on the emotion. And I was a mess. I was a mess. But I love that they kept it so focused on these two characters because it is also a contrast from Defying Gravity, which has, you know,

We discussed this on the last episode, has just Cynthia Rubo kind of flying all over the place and lots of special effects. Exactly. And I just liked how stripped down this was. It was very, very beautiful. As we're talking about the movie and the music in particular, I will say hearing it in Dolby does change things. I imagine. When it comes to even the restraint that you mentioned, Waylon, about how for good is. kind of rendered.

It's so beautiful. And you can hear both of their voices, both like individually and together with the Dolby situation. Like, it changed my experience, seeing it without it. Oh, wow. By the same token,

I was not on the panel last time we talked about the first movie. And I think because of that, I saw the first movie at home. And my reaction to that movie was, like, it's fine, right? I like it. It's fine.

I super respect. these actors and that kind of stuff. I wonder how different I would have felt about it or if I would have felt differently about it. If I had seen that one in like a theater, a big Dolby theater. Because I really did find with this that despite some story weirdness

and the fact that it lags a bit in this half, I was quite engaged. It helps from my perspective that this one is basically two hours in 15 and the last one was two hours in 45. And I think those lengths are way more different than those 30 minutes might make them sound. That to me is a normal length movie versus a very long movie. So in some ways, I think I enjoyed this more, but I suspect that's because of the forget thing, which I mentioned, the timing, and the fact that I saw it in a theater.

I still don't think it needed to be two different movies, but they are very kind of different in terms of what they're trying to do as, you know, act one versus act. where like act one is a lot of setup it's a lot of you know we're just meeting these characters and then we're just plopped in in act two for good the movie and we're catching up with where they all are now that alpha is basically an outlaw and has been demonized and it's interesting because maybe this is also just inherently part of the issue with the show itself too but like watching it again and not having seen a production of the show in probably about 20 years at this point, I realized how like it kind of falls apart just narratively speaking. Like, Wayland, to your point about Glinda and her sort of evolution, the more I think about it, I'm like, I don't know,

Glinda was actually a pretty bad person and a bad friend. And like, her intentions weren't necessarily always bad, but like intentions don't always mean that much when the outcome is what happens to Alphabet. And it stuck to me where the moment in for good, where they're like, you know, we both have blame to share. I'm like, do we both have blame? Yeah. I don't know about that. But that is an issue that's part of the show. And I think, like, having read the original book that this is based off of not El Frank Baum, but Wicked by Gregory McGuire, like that book is so much more radical and way different from this. And I think is a little bit more realistic than this musical could ever be. And that's okay, but it did make me think like, oh, man, the second half also just like, I don't know,

it just doesn't really meld politically like what the rest of it seems to be trying to say about how we should attack, you know, fascism and oppressive regimes in a way. Yeah, I mean, when I refer to the Glinda character development problem, that is kind of a stand-in for this larger problem you point out, which is a bit of political incoherence, I think, in the message and that's something that is not present in the McGuire novel because that novel is a very political novel. The politics get very much distilled and watered down for the stage version and that creates, I think, some narrative and character development problems, especially with Glinda, where she has to make a pretty big turn. She has to go from being

really shallow, having no real ideology or any kind of higher purpose to her. and not really having any interesting moral values or moral compass or anything. And she has to then get radicalized and then also be a bit of a political leader or be a political strategist. And I just think that was a really, really big leap to make that neither the musical nor the movie version of this really sticks. And when I just let myself get carried away by the musical. numbers and Ariana Grande's performance, which is so sincere and so lovely, then I don't really mind. It's when I get home and I'm eating a snack and thinking about it when I'm like, that didn't really hang together for me.

Or when you're listening to The Girl in the Bubble, Ariana's song that is supposed to carry so much of that way, the new song that's added, right? Like it's, yeah. If forced to pick, I did like that most out of all of the new numbers, but I don't think the show needed new numbers. I liked what they did with doing these reprises of the songs you already know from the first one. And they made this movie a little bit more sung through by calling back to the Act One songs. I really liked how they did that. And to me, that almost made the addition of the new songs feel that much more lead in because I was like, you have perfectly good material

in the first one. Don't need new stuff. Yeah. I mean, there's no question that I think the addition of new material and the addition of new scenes and the everything they did to kind of make the second half of this, the part of this after Defying Gravity, that as I understand it in the show is about an hour into a movie that's 215, you know, you got to add kind of a lot of stuff. And I think I absolutely would agree that there are just parts of that calculation that are just obviously commercial and business oriented and we're probably always going to happen. I will say I'd rather have them add songs than have them do what has happened in some other movie musicals, which is the removal of a song and the replacement of it with a different song, which has done some real violence to guys and dolls in particular, do not get me started. Your eyes are the eyes of a woman in love.

And also justice for a bushel and a peck and negative shout out to pet me papa. Anyway, don't get me started. The point is, I do prefer adding to replacing songs. Those are the ones where I get really, really agitated. One thing I wanted to ask you guys about was how you felt about the incorporation of the elements from the Wizard of Oz. Because obviously, as this story is coming closer to the events of the Wizard of Oz and as they actually cross over a bit and you do start to see elements of that story in this story, how the way it plays with those things struck you. We talked at the start of this conversation about how there are some people who don't know the ending, right? Who don't know this wicked story, even though wicked is so huge. I felt like the Wizard of Oz was very much treated that way. Like there's all these forecasting or these hints at the Wizard of Oz at Dorothy and Dodo. That was funny.

That was really funny. As she calls it. That was great. That was a great moment. It felt like there were a lot of whispers there, but if you weren't familiar with the source, I think it would be a beautiful surprise, right? How all of these characters come to, you know, the ending that we at least know for The Wizard of Oz and the kind of twist there. I thought they did it really well, but also didn't have to dive into Dorothy's background, didn't have to, in part because it's

It's the Wizard of Oz. If you don't know Wicked, you definitely know the Wizard of Oz. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if my memory serves correctly, we don't hear Dorothy at all. We see her mostly kind of like in profile or silhouette or just her. I was going to say, not her face. Yeah, yeah, like just her feet a lot because she has the wicked, which is slippers, the shoes.

Yeah. So she has a shoes on. So we see that. It's an alternate history. The point is to say, like to question this idea of. who is actually good versus who is actually evil. And I enjoyed the sort of, you know, little callbacks to the Wizard of Oz and the familiarity in a way that I, like, probably would not like it in the way it's been done in the past and

playing lip service, you know, when you think of all those superhero movies or whatever, when they're frequently dropping these little Easter eggs or whatever, it's like, hey, you remember that thing? I think this does a better job because it is still weaved into the story. And, I mean, I will say, I don't know if we needed all that hype around Coleman Domingo being in this movie because when he does show up, you might not even realize he showed up until after the movie. That was me. That was my experience. I didn't realize that was him until my third screening.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, we don't see him. It's just his voice. I don't think it's a spoiler to say he's a cowardly line. But yeah, I liked it. But I could also see some people in the audience being like, oh, my goodness, this is too much Dorothy. This is too much like, oh, this is so on the nose.

But I liked it. I liked it. Yeah. I think that was like my minimal viable amount of Dorothy because you don't want to show so much of her that then it becomes so distracting because then you're fixated on, well, who did they stunt cast as Dorothy? And is she going to sing? And what kind of conversation is she going to have? You really want to keep it very Elfaba, Glinda focused at the end. So I think that was pretty cleverly handled the way they don't even show her face.

And they don't spend that much time with those central four, really, in that form. So I thought that was well done because you can't not have them, but you also can't have them be so prominent that then you start to feel like you're watching a Wizard of Oz remake instead. Right, right. And I think like when you start to see those characters come in, it's like you said, you don't really want to shift the focus to that. And I think they mostly got away with how they do it. I will say there were a couple times when like they do little things that are like, here's someone saying, I'm off to see the wizard. I think those are the things that become a little ham-handed. But I think the importance of kind of keeping both of those elements in the story is that my understanding is, Wicked, the novel, is sort of about several different things, one of which is this idea of reconsidering history in terms of who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

I think the musical and this film hit that good. There is also a thread about how we treat people who are different, how we act individually ethically, right? how you think about your ethics as an individual person. How should you treat people? Should you try to be good? That, I think, is here. I think that survives. I think the piece that is not here that you've already alluded to

is this other political piece about essentially collective action to resist oppressive governments. That part is sort of not here. And in the translation of the novel to the musical, there's a little bit of a, you know, there's a little bit of a, a little bit of a shuffle from Elphaba is essentially in exile because she's a political, radical, working in an underground movement to Elphaba is, to some degree, Elphaba is in exile because she's different and she's been rejected and misunderstood. And they can both be good stories, but they're really different. So I think the Dorothy stuff brings you back to the piece of it that I think

maybe works the best, which is the piece about every villain, bad guy, not every, but like, Many villains have pieces of their story that provide necessary context for what they do and how to treat them. Yeah. Especially people who become kind of celebrated villains, like the government itself telling you the person is a villain. Those are maybe the most important ones to reconsider and rethink. And then I think that part works really well. And so the Dorothy stuff works well. But then they sang for good and I cried.

And always made better. And always made better. Because, you know, like, what's better than that? Yeah. I cried in that one, obviously. I also cried at the end of No Good Deed, which is Elphabas, big showstopper. Oh, I was so blown away by her performance of that. And that was the first time that people in my screening applauded.

That people were moved to applaud after that one. She hit that note. She hit those final notes, like, I mean, the way she does. And that's what you want to hear in Dolby. I'm going to let you. know that now. You want to hear that in the Dolby. I absolutely get it. Yeah, I think on the whole satisfying time with reservations and questions kind of wraps up my experience, perhaps, the experience several of us had. So tell us what you think about Wicked for Good. Don't pretend that

you don't know about it. Don't pretend you might not go see it. Tell us what you think about it. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash pCHM on letterbox at letterbox.com slash NPR pop culture. We'll have a link in our episode description. Up next, what's making us happy this week. Now it is time for our favorite segment of this week. And every week, what's making us happy this week? Whalen Wong, what is making you happy this week? Okay, what's making me happy is a piano player named Grayson Smith.

Now, he does not have an album or even a YouTube channel I can point you to. What he does is he plays piano at Disney World, at Magic Kingdom on Main Street, outside of Casey's Corner, if you know Magic Kingdom. And he is this amazing piano player. He knows every Disney song so you can request whatever Disney song you want. And he does these beautiful medleys. And I had the pleasure of seeing him actually in person last month because I went to Disney on vacation. And I was able to request my favorite Disney song. I'll make a man out of you from Mulan.

Yes, that's a good choice. Let's get down to business. Exactly. We got to beat the Hans, Aisha. But I wanted to share this clip of him playing. This is a TikTok video of him playing One More Sleep Till Christmas from The Muppets Christmas Carol. So he does these beautiful arrangements all from memory.

His name is Grayson Smith. And again, he doesn't have an album. But just go on TikTok or Instagram Reels or YouTube. Type in Grayson, Piano, Disney, and give yourself over to the algorithm. And there's so many delightful videos of him doing all these different songs, including show tunes. Done.

Done. Oh, nice. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Thank you very much. Waylon. Trevell, what is making you happy this week? What is making me happy this week? So have you all heard about the reliving single podcast. I have been listening to the Reliving Single podcast. I have heard about it. I have not heard it. Okay. So this is the unofficial, official rewatch podcast of the fabulous iconic show, Living Single. It features Erica Alexander. and Kim Coles, who played Maxine Shaw and Sinclair James on the show. They're rewatching the show. They've invited cast members. You know, Queen Latifah don't show up, you know, for just anybody.

You know, she is a queen after all, right? She has to be intentional. But she showed up, and that episode in particular, but the entire podcast, they're in their first season right now. It is just so fun. And they're also dropping these little tidbits of information, about Black Hollywood history, about their experiences, navigating, you know, their careers. It really is a great opportunity, I think, for those of us who are fans of this show and these

folks' work to relive it alongside them and also hear kind of their reflections about what it was like, you know, in real time. So that is what is making me happy, the Reliving Single Podcast. You can check it out on YouTube or wherever you're listening to our fabulous voices right now, I'm sure. Thank you very much, Trevelle Anderson. Aisha Harris. What is making you happy this week, my friend? Simon Ennis's The Hobby, Tales from the Tabletop, is a documentary that is perfectly suited for people like me who are big board game nerds. This is just a very kind of delightful little documentary about the people who love to play board games as well as those who are trying to create their own games and get them out in the world. It includes the creator of

Wingspan, Elizabeth Hargrave. Wingspan is one of my absolute favorite board game that's so fun. And if you're a birder, you'd probably like it too. I'm not a birder, but I've learned so much about birds just by playing this game. And it also profiles the World Series of board gaming, which happens in Las Vegas. It's super nerdy. It's exactly what you would think. Like you get all these personalities. One of my favorite personalities is our family plays games, which is this family that has a YouTube channel, this black family. It's a husband, wife. and their son, they review games, they do interviews, they like just try to make it so that, like, everyone who loves to play games regardless of their background, they can feel comfortable.

I love it. It's pleasant. It's fun. And I just enjoy watching people who are even nerdier about board games than I am, like who are spending hours and hours and hours, like, preparing for the World Series of board gaming. It's intense and it's very heartwarming. So that's the hobby tales from the tabletop. And it's available on the rooster. Koo channel, but you could also rent it on BOD. Great. All right. Thank you very much, Ayesha Harris. So what is making me happy this week comes unsurprisingly from the world of dogs. Dogs. Because once you have a dog, like I do, you just find yourself in the world of dogs.

And there is an Instagram account, and I think also TikTok in other places, but I follow on Instagram, a woman whose name is Isabel, who is a kind of very well-known foster-a-m to medically challenged foster dogs. And her dog's name is Simon. So her channel is called Simon Sits. If you ever heard about like a very, very terrified foster dog named Tiki, who went viral for a time, Tiki was one of Isabelle's foster dogs. But recently, she has been rehabilitating a foster dog named Wimsy. And when she got a hold of Wimsy, Wimsy was literally the thinnest dog I've ever seen.

It's you look at her and you're like, I'm surprised this dog was still kind of standing up. So I've been watching her kind of gradually over the weeks like whimsy's gotten kind of like healthier and healthier looking. But Isabel and her fiancé recently learned that whimsy really likes to be sung to unless it's creed. He's like open under the sunlight. Welcome to this place. I'll show you she. He's like, mom make it stop. This came up on my algorithm.

Her fiancé sings to the dog. The dog loves it. Every time the fiancé starts singing to whimsy, she runs over to him. And she's like, oh, my God, I love it. I love it. If he sings a creed song, she goes and hides behind it. It's so funny. And it's the kind of thing where you see it and you think, like, maybe this isn't real.

They might be making it up. But it's like, it sure looks real. And she's so fun to follow. Sometimes the stories are difficult because it's sick animals. So just be conscious of that. But she is a really, like, warm personality. I greatly enjoy following her. She has, by the way, a book coming out in a few months called Dogs, Boys, and Other Things

I've cried about, which is very, I think, on brand for the channel. But, again, her channel is called Simon Sits. You can check out her incredibly beautiful, her own dog, who has medical challenges as well. And then also this parade of wonderful, lovable foster dogs as they go out into the world to be a dog. So that is what is making me happy this week. If you want links for what we recommended, plus some more recommendations, sign up for our newsletter. It's at npr.org slash pop culture newsletter. That brings us to the end of our very, very wicked slash good show.

Trevelle Anderson, Waylon Wong, Aisha Harris. Thank you so much for being here to talk about this movie. It was really fun. Thank you. Thank you. This episode is produced by Carly Rubin, Liz Metzger, Kayla Latimore, and Mike Katzif. and it was edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello, come in, provides our theme music.

Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next week.