It's been four months since audiences got carried away by the witches of Oz and three since the sing-along version of Wicked came to theaters for everyone who had been holding back their Broadway belts. Now, both versions are available for streaming. Here's what you need to know to enjoy it at home.
Where is Wicked streaming?
According to ScreenCrush, "Wicked, the blockbuster adaptation of (one-half of) the hit Broadway musical is now available on Peacock." Being a well-established superfan of the musical and the movie adaptation, I paid a visit to the app to verify this and to check out the "introduction from the film's stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande."
Of course the two stars are dressed in green and pink, but they're wonderfully casual about it in this introduction. "Thank you so much for joining us on this amazing journey to Oz," says the winsome Ariana. "Because you're at home, there's no reason to keep quiet," says the rabble-rousing Erivo. "Make sure the neighbors can hear you." Then, citing "safety first," they lead us in vocal warmups and diction exercises so we can properly sing along with them.
The dialogue in the film is presented in standard sub-title format, but as soon as lyrics come out of the woodwork, they are in the font of the title and eye-catching gold. I've seen sing-along editions where the text interferes with the viewing of the movie by covering part of the screen, but the people who crafted this made sure we didn't miss a single one of the visuals. After all, the movie just won Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Production Design and Best Achievement in Costume Design. We don't want to miss the award-winning elements of the film while we're keeping straight phrases like "Don't be offended by my frank analysis; think of it as personality dialysis" straight.
A separate article in Variety reports that "NBCUniversal's marketing team has organized a corporate-wide campaign to make sure this "Wicked" window is as pop-you-lar as its theatrical run." What do they mean by that? "The arrival of Wicked on Peacock...is the culmination of what NBCU has dubbed 'Wicked Week' to generate awareness of its availability on the streamer." The streaming service has provided "character profile avatars and 'affinity rails' that places Wicked inside specially tailored genres like 'Unusually & Exceedingly Peculiar'...and 'Magical & Mystical Worlds.'" (One has to wonder why, if they used Glinda's description of Elphaba as a category, they don't have one for the corresponding "BLONDE." Peacock's Wicked hub is also where you can find the hour-long documentary "Defying Gravity" and things such as deleted or extended scenes. Says the chief marketing officer for NBCUniversal Television & Streaming, "We're able to create and eventize it just like we do with something like the Olympics."
Wicked can be found in all its yellow brick glory on Peacock as of March 21. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been waiting to sing "The Wizard and I" since Thanksgiving.