Wicked Movie: 11 Key Differences Between The 2024 Film and The Musical

The announcement that the movie adaptation of Wicked would be two parts promised fans one main thing — that little, if anything, from the stage musical would be cut for the film.

Director Jon M. Chu said as much when explaining that the reason for the split into two movies was to avoid making what felt like "fatal compromises to the source material" by trying "to cut songs or trim characters."

Wicked Part 1 proved that this commitment to the source material was not just talk — it is an extremely faithful adaptation of the musical, even if there are a few small changes.

But, with the movie being almost the length of the entire stage musical, despite only adapting Act I, there was a lot of room to add to the story without sacrificing what was already there.

Every Difference Between Wicked Part 1 and Wicked on Broadway

Elphaba's Mother's Affair

Partway through "No One Mourns the Wicked," both the stage and screen versions of Wicked show a flashback to Elphaba's conception and birth.

Both versions show that when the man who Elphaba thinks is her father leaves town for a night, her mother has an affair with a mysterious man after drinking a vial of green elixir.

In the musical, the scene is shown as the man seducing and actively pressuring the mother into drinking the vial and the affair. In the movie, though, the encounter is clearly much more mutually wanted and consensual.

Elphaba and Nessarose Childhood Flashback

After Elphaba's birth scene — where, in another change from the musical, it is revealed that Elphaba was cared for growing up by an Animal named Dulcibear — there is a new-for-the-movie flashback scene featuring young Elphaba and Nessarose.

Young Elphaba is reading a pop-up book about the Wizard's arrival in Oz to Young Nessa, when a group of children come and start taunting Elphaba. Elphaba, frustrated by the taunts and upset at the discomfort Nessa shows she is feeling, gets angry and performs a little magic unintentionally.

The kids run away scared, and Elphaba's father starts criticizing and blaming Elphaba for it all.

Elphaba and Nessa's Arrival at Shiz

When Elphaba and Nessa first arrive at Shiz University in Wicked Part 1, it is quickly revealed that Elphaba is not there to attend the school — she is just there to see Nessa off.

Nessa starts at Shiz to get a "fresh start," and Elphaba is there to encourage it and to encourage the girl, who is paraplegic and uses a wheelchair, to embrace independence (despite the school, and their father, refusing to allow her to do so).

The faculty push Nessa around in her wheelchair, despite her repeatedly asking that they not, and insist that she needs additional assistance, despite her and Elphaba both saying otherwise.

This upsets Elphaba, whose anger then leads her to inadvertently use magic. It is only after this that Madame Morrible offers Elphaba a spot at the school.

In the musical version, Elphaba and Nessa think Elphaba is enrolled at Shiz herself, but under the assumption that she will be living with and helping Nessa as needed — in fact, that is the only reason their father allowed Elphaba to go at all.

Madame Morrible remarks that their father never mentioned that Elphaba was coming too, though she ends up being allowed in anyway. But, Madame Morrible says that Nessa will live with her, not Elphaba, to get extra assistance.

Elphaba, who has always made an effort to help her sister when she needs it and who is well aware that her ability to be at Shiz is dependent on the expectation that she be there to help Nessa, tries to fight back.

It is her anger over this decision being made for both sisters and her fear of not following what her father expected of her that leads her — her innate desire to fix what she sees as wrong and unjust, like in the movie — to perform magic inadvertently.

Pre-"What Is This Feeling?" Scene and Longer Letters

A new scene is added for the movie between "The Wizard and I" and "What Is This Feeling?" featuring Glinda and Elphaba first interacting in their room.

The scene begins with Elphaba entering the room, and Glinda very clearly does not want the door to the balcony closed. She claims that she likes the air, but it seems that she is actually scared of Elphaba and does not want to be in a closed room alone with her — though that is technically speculation.

Glinda shows Elphaba the "space" she left for her roommate, being a small cubby surrounded by boxes and bags of Glinda's things, taking up the whole room. Glinda asks Elphaba about her magic, and the two girls start fighting when Elphaba does not immediately answer.

The glass door gets cracked during the fight when Elphaba accidentally performs some magic, before she shares that she does not know how she uses magic.

After this comes the introduction to "What Is This Feeling?," which does match its stage counterpart when it shows Glinda and Elphaba each writing letters to their parents at home.

However, the letters have some new lines that are not in the musical version. Elphaba thanks her father for letting her stay and attend Shiz.

Meanwhile, Glinda has an extended gag of asking her parents "Guess what?" then saying since this is a written letter she can't hear their guesses.

Worth noting is that these additions to the letters do not appear in the movie's soundtrack, so the letters read in the soundtrack's "What Is This Feeling?" are identical to those from the show.

"Something Bad" Context and Staging

In the stage musical, the song "Something Bad" is simply between Doctor Dillamond and Elphaba in the history classroom, with the former explaining how Animals are losing their rights across Oz.

While the lyrics did not change for the movie, the song's context and staging certainly did. Doctor Dillamond sings the first half of the song with a group of Animals in a hidden sanctuary, with Elphaba eavesdropping from right outside.

The stories told of the Animals who are going missing or losing the ability to speak are depicted with shadows on a wall, bringing a new visual element to the song. Audiences also get more perspectives on the crisis in Oz than just Doctor Dillamond's.

The second half of the song, after a dialogue break that was slightly adjusted for the song's new context, is more similar to the original version, being a more private conversation between Doctor Dillamond and Elphaba. The biggest difference is its location — rather than being in Doctor Dillamond's classroom, it takes place at his home.

Fiyero's Arrival At Shiz

Wicked Part 1 expands on Fiyero's arrival at Shiz University from the musical, which features a relatively short dialogue scene then jumps right into "Dancing Through Life."

In the movie, Elphaba and Fiyero first meet in the forest, and banter with one another almost immediately. Like in the musical, Fiyero does not make any mean comments about Elphaba's green skin when they first meet, unlike all the other students.

Next comes a scene featuring Glinda preparing to meet Fiyero for the first time. She is very calculated as she decides what to wear and how she will look, demonstrating her tactical side and need to be seen as perfect by everyone around her.

Fiyero makes his way through crowds of gushing students, and interacts with Pfannee (Bowen Yang) briefly before meeting Glinda. It is worth noting that Pfannee, ShenShen (Bronwyn James), and Miss Coddle (Keala Settle) are all entirely new characters for the movie.

Glinda flirts with Fiyero, and takes him on a tour of the school in an effort to get closer with him. They enter the library, Fiyero recognizes and waves to Elphaba (who responds with an eye roll), and after a bit more dialogue, "Dancing Through Life" begins.

Extended "Popular" Ending Tag

In another addition to the music of Wicked, the ending to the song "Popular" was extended. Though only a few bars of additional "La, las" and some different musical choices were added, it brings an even stronger finish to an already catchy song.

It brings more of Glinda's goofy and silly side to the forefront, as audiences start seeing a kinder, more friendly version of the character.

Interestingly, this is the only change for the movie that Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz said he would consider adding into the Broadway version, as he told BuzzFeed UK in an interview.

Schwartz also told Variety that he thought about adjusting "Popular" to be more hip-hop-inspired in the movie, but Ariana Grande-Butera nixed it. She wanted to play Glinda authentically, rather than simply "Ariana Grande playing Glinda:"

"In the spirit of being open to new things for the movie, my music team and I thought, let’s refresh the rhythm. Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit ... Ariana said, 'Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.'"

Sleep-Inducing Poppies in the History Classroom

Another extended sequence is in the history classroom after Doctor Dillamond is taken away. In the musical, Elphaba uses magic to create chaos, distracting everyone from seeing her and Fiyero leave with the lion cub.

The movie takes a different route. Poppies (and flowers in general) serve as a motif in Wicked Part 1. This is, of course, a reference to the poppy field the witch in The Wizard of Oz enchants that puts Dorothy and the Lion to sleep.

Not only does the movie plant those seeds — pun intended — early by including poppies, but it also shows them have the same effect on Elphaba's classmates (besides Fiyero) that it has in The Wizard of Oz.

The Train Dialogue, "One Short Day" Changes and the Wise Ones

There are several additions — major and minor — to the entire train and Emerald City sequence before and during "One Short Day."

First, there is extended dialogue outside the train, right before Elphaba gets on to go to the Emerald City. Some elements of the dialogue, such as Glinda's remark that she is worried that Fiyero is "thinking," and when she changes her name from Galinda to Glinda, come straight from the musical.

However, while in the movie Elphaba decides to invite Glinda with her after she gets on the train and looks at a gift Glinda gave her, in the musical it is because Elphaba feels bad that Fiyero seems to be neglecting her. There is also extended dialogue along with the invitation, as Elphaba yells to Glinda from the train, encouraging her best friend to come along.

Then, the song "One Short Day" begins. The song is given a new opening, with the repeated "If you only had" lines before the number starts in earnest.

The next big change is arguably the biggest in the whole movie — it certainly is the longest piece of music original to the movie. Like in the musical, Elphaba and Glinda see a show called "Wizomania." In the musical, it simply tells the story of the Wizard's arrival in Oz. In the movie, though, it goes all the way back to the creation of the Grimmerie.

Featured in this new section of "One Short Day" are Idina Menzel and Kristin Cheoweth, the original Broadway Elphaba and Glinda respectively. These "magical Wise Ones" are revealed to be the writers of the Grimmerie, marking the first time that question has been answered in any version of Wicked (movie, musical, or book).

Their new addition is fairly lengthy, lasting more than two minutes (the full song clocks in at six and a half minutes).

"Oz of Tomorrow" and Shadow Sequence

Elphaba and Glinda meets with the Wizard in his chamber after "One Short Day" in both the musical and movie — but the movie extends the scene with a few new elements.

After first meeting the Wizard in his chamber, Elphaba and Glinda are shown a miniature model of Oz, which the Wizard calls "Oz of Tomorrow." Part of it involves creating a brick road that can lead anyone to the Wizard, but he was stumped on what color to make it. Together, Elphaba and Glinda land on yellow.

There is added dialogue that more explicitly shows Elphaba decide that her heart's desire is not to get rid of her green skin tone, but to help the Animals of Oz. The Wizard proceeds to sing "A Sentimental Man," like in the stage version, but at the end of the song there is an extended shadow sequence new for the movie.

The shadows make it look like the wizard is performing magic himself, when really it is various machines doing it for him.

Defying Gravity Extended Sequences

Right before "Defying Gravity" in Wicked Part 1, another scene is added that is not in the musical — the sequence where Elphaba and Glinda try to escape together in a hot air balloon.

They are stopped by the Wizard and the guards, all trying to either bring the balloon down or to close the roof before it can ascend out of the building. Ultimately, the balloon crashes to the ground in an explosion.

Even once the movie and musical catch up with one another in time for "Defying Gravity," though, there are some major changes in the newer version.

Rather than "Defying Gravity" being more-or-less sung through, with only brief dialogue breaks, like it is in the musical version, the song is broken up into sections, divided by short scene elements and dialogue additions.

One of these scenes is when Elphaba is almost ready to run away, and Glinda finds a cape for her to wrap herself in before the two best friends part ways. Another new element is showing Nessarose's and her and Elphaba's father's reactions to Madame Morrible's speech calling Elphaba a wicked witch.

The musical only reveals that the father died of shame in a dialogue scene in the second act — the audience learns when Elphaba does. The movie, though, shows it actually happen, with Nessa listening to the speech via a radio and becoming worried.

The sequence with Elphaba falling before she starts to fly is brand new too. During this addition, Elphaba remembers the taunts of bullies and the mean remarks people have said to and about her as she falls. 

At one point, she looks at her reflection in the mirror, and it suddenly begins to show her younger self. After this moment of reflection and connection with her past, Elphaba is truly ready to defy gravity.

Finally, a significant lyric change in "Defying Gravity" is changing what the people of Oz shout as Elphaba flies away from "Get her!" to "Kill her!" This change in the movie raises the stakes for Elphaba far earlier than in the show.

What Could Be Changed In Wicked Part 2?

So far, the biggest changes confirmed for next year's Wicked Part 2 are the additions of two new songs.

Director Jon M. Chu told Rotten Tomatoes that he "can't talk about them yet," but assured fans that "they are very, very fantastic." With such little information to go off of, it is hard to speculate where in the story these new songs might be.

In fact, fans do not even know if the songs will cover ground that is simply dialogue in the stage show, or if they are part of new additions to the story as a whole.

Also, there will be another song included that may be unfamiliar to many fans despite being in the stage musical — "Wicked Witch of the East." The song, centered around Nessarose, was left off of the Original Broadway Cast Recording, and may come as a surprise, even to those who go in thinking they know exactly what songs to expect to hear.

But, ultimately, it is not a new addition to the movie, as it is in the stage version of the show.

As Nov. 21, 2025 gets closer, more information will likely be revealed about the new songs, and other potential additions in the story's second half too.

Wicked Part 1 is now playing in theaters.