wicked part II: for good (review)

wicked is one of those musicals that everyone has a history with. similarly to musicals like les miserables, matilda, or the phantom of the opera it is a piece of media and theater which has not only heavily influenced the theatre community, running on broadway successfully for 22 years, but has also become relevant in pop culture and more mainstream media. funnily enough, the concept of adapting wicked into a movie began before the musical was written and created by stephen schwartz. but in 2021 director john m chu pulled the trigger and signed on to direct and adapt the musical into two movies separating act I and act II into two separate narratives which would come out a year apart. wicked was my favourite musical when i was little, i loved it because of its lush and dramatic sets and costumes, it’s beautiful score, but more than anything its portrayal of young women. i related to both elphaba and glinda when i was younger, as a child who was a people pleaser depending on validation from others to feel content, and also feeling like i was often alone and isolated from others. when i heard that wicked was being turned into a movie i was incredibly excited for multiple reasons, not only because the musical means so much to me personally but also because i was interested to see how cynthia erivo, ariana grande, and johnathan bailey would bring the characters of elphaba, glinda, and fiyero to light. i can say with certainty that i loved the first movie. i thought it was incredibly well done, it stayed true to the original source material, the cinematography and sets were incredible, and the vocal performances of the actors were top notch. however, today i am going to talk about part II of the movie, which i saw this weekend.

on a scale of 1/10 i would give this movie a 6.5

i love act II of wicked, we transition from a very bright and upbeat narrative to one that is dark and twisted. however, i feel like there are certain aspects of the movie that were not explored as much as they could have been. it felt like they were lacking time and were not able to expand upon the narrative, which i found slightly disappointing.

i thought that the vocal performances were fantastic. especially no good deed, thank goodness, and as long as your mine. however, the two new songs that were added to the movie “no place like home” and “the girl in the bubble” felt over emotional, lukewarm and to me were not written well.

in conclusion, although i loved the first movie, and enjoyed certain elements of the second i wouldn’t see this movie again, and wouldn’t highly recommend it to new comers.

tunes i love:

hi! every 6 months i’m reminded of the fact that i have this blog, and so i thought i would post a little something today. i usually only post about musical theatre on this blog, but music is also a massive part of my life, and i love to talk about it and share it with others, so here are some of my favourite songs at the moment!

army dreamers by kate bush
landslide by fleetwood mac
don’t dream it’s over by crowded house
vienna by billy joel
just like heaven by the cure
dear august by PJ harding and noah cyrus
sadness as a gift by adrienne lenker
superpowers by daniel ceaser
505 by the arctic monkeys
august 10 by julie doiron
the lovecats by the cure
let down by radiohead
back to the old house by the smiths
thinkin bout you by frank ocean
last kiss by pearl jam
video killed the radio star by the bugles
bag of bones by mitski
iris by the go go dolls
no one noticed by the maria’s
sunday by the cranberries

reacting to unpopular musical theatre opinions:

hello, a rare occurrence of me being active on this blog? who would’ve thought! today i am going to be reacting to unpopular musical theatre opinions of which i found on a reddit thread, so without further ado please enjoy my rambling!!

hadestown is overrated: unfortunately i disagree with this opinion, hadestown is one of my favourite musicals. i think the concept of the piece is unlike anything that has been written in the canon prior, and the music is one of my favourite vocal scores in the musical theatre canon. i can understand why one would think it is an overrated musical because of how oversaturated it became in the media in 2019-2021 but i truly believe it is one of the most important pieces of written work in the past 10 years. i will never not love hadestown.
hamilton is underrated: ok, i partly agree with this opinion but i partly disagree. now, there is no denying that hamilton is one of the most important and influential pieces of musical theatre every written, and it truly changed the way in which modern composers have continued to write contemporary musical theatre. no matter how many times i listen to the score of hamilton, i am constantly reminded of just how genius it is, and how specific and unique the score and narrative lin manuel miranda created is. in these ways, i would agree and say that yes, hamilton is underrated. but, i disagree with the fact that hamilton does not get enough credit for its impact on the theater community. in fact, i often think that it gets too much credit. hamilton is not the only influential contemporary musical that has been written, and it never will be, there are other contemporary musicals and contemporary composers who are making work just as good as hamilton and are not getting enough credit for it.
les miserables is boring and predictable: i think that this is an interesting opinion! i disagree with this, les miserables is written about the french revolution which was a major historical conflict and one we are still feeling the after effects of to this day. i don’t see how that is an example of boring subject material, now do i think that the narrative is a little predictable? absolutely! but it’s about war and conflict! it is blatantly obvious to an audience what the final outcome of les miserables will be, but to me the ending of the show is not why people go, people go because of all that happens before the somewhat anticlimactic ending. so, i disagree with this opinion, i do not think that les miserables is “boring and predictable.”
matilda is overrated and poorly structured as a musical: hmmm, ok, now this hurts my inner child but unfortunately i am going to have to agree. i think that the music in matilda is entertaining and fun, and i always appreciate work which centres around young people and which employs young working actors, but i think that the book is a far better representation of the story than the musical is. i also agree with the latter half of this opinion stating that it is poorly structured, as one of my biggest qualms with the musical adaptation of matilda has always been that the writers squeezed all of the interesting narrative in act 1 and left nothing to be further explored in act 2 except for resolution.
the movie adaptation of wicked is better than the original musical: oof i disagree with this opinion!! although i thoroughly enjoyed the wicked movie, and thought that not only did the actors do a fantastic job but that the work of the crew and creative team was astonishing i did not like it nearly as much as the original musical. maybe this is because the stage adaptation lives in such a special place in my heart, but to me, nothing will come close to the stage version of the show.

my 3 favourite songs from my five favourite musicals:

listen, is this probably the last thing i am going to post on this blog for the next year because i keep forgetting i have it, probably! is the only person who consistently reads my posts my aunt, absolutely, and i love that she does! so, today i am going to ranking my 5 favourite songs from my 5 favourite musicals, and i hope you enjoy!

5: merrily we roll along written by george furth and stephen sondheim

opening doors:

like it was/old friends:

old friends:

4: next to normal

i’m alive:

i am the one:

make up your mind/catch me i’m falling:

3: come from away

28 hours/darkness and trees:

me and the sky:

i am here:

2: cabaret

wilkomen:

money:

mein herr:

1: alice by heart

the key is

afternoon

winter blooms

musical theatre dream roles:

hello! i realize that it’s been a year since i posted here, long story short i am two years older than the last time i posted and since then my life has shifted entirely, and i’ve had to adapt to new experiences and circumstances along the way. today i am doing an updated version of my musical theatre dream roles, as many of the roles i want to play have shifted and changed over the past couple of years. so this is my updated list of musical theatre dream roles in 2025!
1. alice in alice by heart

2. natalie in next to normal

3. orpheus in hadestown

4. ilona in she loves me

5. sally in cabaret

6. daisy in the great gatsby

7. roxie in chicago

8. sandra dee in grease

9. wendla in spring awakening

10. johanna in sweeney todd

my musical theatre repertoire:

hello hello! i am a musical theatre student who trains in musical theatre, theatre, and physical devising/physical theatre. today i will be sharing my musical theatre repertoire, (i am a soprano, so the songs that you will be seeing are written for performers who have a large upper register.)

these are all songs i have been coached on and have worked extensively!!

classical/golden age repertoire: ballads

i remember from evening primrose
it might as well be spring from state fair
will he like me from she loves me
what does he want of me from the man of la mancha

classical/golden age repertoire: up-tempo

feelings from the apple tree
i’ll show him from plain and fancy
by the sea from sweeney todd
if i were a bell from guys and dolls

contemporary repertoire: ballads

no one else from natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812
not a day goes by from merrily we roll along
fly fly away from catch me if you can
before it’s over from dogfight

contemporary repertoire: up-tempo

nothing from a chorus line
a glamorous life from a little night music
a part of that from the last five years
winter blooms from alice by heart

musical theater songs that make me want to cry to the point where i feel violently ill:

dust and ashes from natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812:

good thing going from merrily we roll along:

maybe this time from cabaret:

children and art from sunday in the park with george:

wait for me (reprise) from hadestown:

and then there were none from spring awakening:

champagne from in the heights:

alyssa greene from the prom:

why from tick tick boom:

you will still be mine from waitress:

if i didn’t believe in you from the last five years:

finale: children will listen from into the woods:

pierre and natasha from natasha, pierre, and the great comet of 1812:

left behind from spring awakening:

pretty funny from dogfight:

not a day goes by (reprise) from merrily we roll along:

i’ll be here from ordinary days:

or virtually anything lindsay mendez has been in

my top 5 favourite glee songs per season:

hello!

ok, i have not written in a very long time. i honestly don’t have an excuse for this, i have just started school, and this past year and a half has been the most rewarding and exciting year yet but also the busiest and so i have not had a chance to focus on the blog as much as i did beforehand. i do enjoy writing and this is a very rewarding creative outlet for me so i will continue writing, and i will try and focus more of my time and energy into writing and continuing to have this blog. i started this blog when i was nine years old, and i am turning sixteen this year. this has been somewhat of a passion project of mine, and the intention was for me to use this as a creative outlet, as this was somewhat of a passion project for me, this is what i will continue to strive for. this is something that makes me happy, and although i will not be as active as i used to be i am determined to continue to pursue this.

because i have not written here in a while, i wanted to soft launch my first blog post after my break so i decided to write about something that is a little silly but which i love talking and writing about. i have recently started rewatching glee again and have rediscovered or uncovered new music that was recorded. glee has been my favourite show since i was 10 years old and believe it or not i am still passionate about it. today i will ranking my top 5 favourite songs from each season of glee. i am not sure how many people will read this (probably not many, but if you do and you are also a fan of glee feel free to disagree with me and comment of this post just don’t be adversarial as this is a television show and this is solely based off of my personal taste.) with that being said, enjoy this silly little ranking of glee!

season 1:

5: bust your windows:

4: like a prayer:

3: don’t stop believing:

2: faithfully:

1: the boy is mine:

season 2:

5: PYT (pretty young thing:)

4: dog days are over:

3: my man:

2: dog days are over:

1: valerie:

season 3:

5: so emotional

4: i just can’t stop loving you

3: paradise by the dashboard light

2: shake it out

1: rumour has it/someone like you

season 4:

5: don’t dream it’s over

4: teenage dream

3: you’re all i need to get by

2: locked out of heaven

1: the scientist

season 5:

5: gloria

4: if i die young

3: let’s wait awhile

2: toxic

1: make you feel my love

season 6:

5: rather be

4: i feel the earth move/hand in my pocket

3: at last

2: tightrope

1: hey ya!

get to know me tag 2023:

are you a morning person or a night owl: i am definitely a morning person, 1:30-2:00 am is the latest i can stay up! i love the mornings, as there is something so peaceful and relaxing about the earliest hours of the day.
are you afraid of the dark: no i’m not! however, i was when i was younger and would only sleep with my door fully open.
are you an extrovert or an introvert: i always struggle to answer this question. i would say that when i am around other people i am very outgoing and talkative but i also need time to and by myself because i find myself physically and emotionally drained often. so, i would say that i am an ambivert! i love being around other people but i also need to be alone when i need to recharge and don’t gain energy from other people.
are you right handed or left handed: i am right handed!
what do you do on a typical friday night: i have rehearsals until 9:00 pm on friday’s so i arrive home late, but usually my parents and i watch a movie or a television show together or i go out with friends.
what movie have you watched repeatedly: i’ve watched la la land almost five times. i absolutely love that movie!
what was the last song you listened to: abbey by mitski (lush)
what’s your favourite animal: i am a dog person, but i specifically love golden retrievers.
what’s your favourite book: the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime by mark haddon or the book thief by markus zusak.
what is your favourite colour: pastel yellow, pastel pink or navy blue.
what is your favourite drink: peace tea (peach) or coca cola
what is your favourite snack: salt and vinegar chips
what is your favourite food: salmon sushi
who is your celebrity crush: sydney sweeney and darren barnett
what is your favourite season: summer ❤

daily writing prompt #4:

Daily writing prompt

When are you most happy?

View all responses

I am most happy when i am onstage performing for an audience full of people. When i am onstage i transform into an entirely different person. I am fully confident in what i am doing, and i am fully enjoying myself and savouring the moment i am living in to the fullest extent. The adrenaline rush one gets when they are performing is a feeling that i will never take for granted, it feels like regardless of whether or not i make a mistake or fail it doesn’t matter because i have the opportunity to do it over again the next day or 2 hours later. I am the truest version of myself when i am onstage performing, and because of that i am also the happiest version of myself.