Nobody in all of Oz can bring Cynthia Erivo down in new "WICKED" trailer

One of the most anticipated movies of the year is WICKED and all eyes have been on Cynthia Erivo. This Stockwell-born actress is taking on the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West whose story is at the heart of the Stephen Schwartz musical. A recent spot for the film contains special cause for excitement as it features one of the most exhilarating moments in musical theater.

The Rules of Someone Else's Game

In 1995, Gregory Maguire's novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The story delved into the rivalry that came into play in L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, but there was a twist. Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West had been friends since college and nothing was as it seemed. A musical followed eight years later and audiences found themselves sympathizing with the plight of a girl named Elphaba (An adaptation of LFB, her creator) who in a world where "folks..to an absurd degree seemed fixated on [her] verdigris." She dreamed of using her education at Shiz University to change the world at the side of the Wizard. Everything changed when she discovered that her hero was not only unmagical, but planning to exploit her powers for cruelty and tyranny.

In this new trailer, we see Elphaba at the moment when she decides to flee society and work against the Wizard. It's a moment of incredible empowerment as the song asserts that "I'm through accepting limits 'cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know." It is the moment in which this idealist chooses the path that will lead to her being smeared as wicked, but we can't help but feel that she's right to take her power. This is also arguably the most highly-anticipated moment of the upcoming film for people who are familiar with the source material.

Cynthia Erivo the star

Fans of theater and film alike ought to be familiar with Erivo and her formidable abilities. She had a few roles on television programs such as Chewing Gum and The Tunnel and was featured in stage productions at the Brighton Festival and the Theatre Royal Strafford East, but came to the West End in 2014 with I Can't Sing and a year later was cast as Celie in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. It was for this role that she received the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the 2017 Grammy award for Best Musical Theater Album.

It would be easy to overlook her film and television career, but this is the same actress who played the titular character in a biopic of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman and appeared on television in The Outsider and Genius. She has been on the jury of the 78th Venice International Film Festival, started her own production company (Edith's Daughter) and is vice president of her alma mater, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Wicked will be divided into two films, with the first coming to theaters in late 2024.