Wicked: For Good

Jon M. Chu’s critically acclaimed adaptation of the broadway musical Wicked rewrote the playbook for film musicals in 2024, and that was just Act 1. Today let’s check out the music and sound in last week’s Wicked: For Good official trailer.

We open with Glinda (Ariana Grande) in a pastel pink salon, turning to see a glass window cracking. In the background, the orchestra swells in ominous octaves. At 0:04 the bell of a clock tower chimes 3:00 a.m. - in tune with the orchestra. The camera spins round Glinda and at 0:14 we hear the iconic voice of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) before we see her.

There’s a retro 1940s-style Universal Pictures logo spinning at 0:20 after which we transition to a frustrated Elphaba stomping into her hideout at dawn as she sings the incantation from “No Good Deed.” At 0:26 Elphaba slams down an anti-Wicked Witch propaganda poster while, in sync, a martial drum beat cues up a full orchestra.

Over slow low brass chords we have a montage catching us up to speed since the events of the first film. No longer leading dance parties at Shiz University, Prince Fiyero now leads an army (don’t worry though, he’s still got groove, as we see his squadron getting down on the beat at 0:38).

Another drum flourish leads to Elphaba’s vocals for the chorus of “No Good Deed” at 0:43. On screen, we see a wolf-like reflection of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum).

At 0:56 we cut to silence, and single notes in the piano’s high register (a trailer music trope by this point) cue in Glinda’s first verse of “For Good” at 1:03. Now, this isn’t a music video for the song “For Good.” It’s a trailer for a film, designed to entice people into theatres in November. But yet, this particular song packs enough of a punch (heck, it’s in the film’s title), that the rest of the trailer functions as somewhat of an abridged “For Good” music video.

The ensuing montage serves to reinforce the strong bond between Elphaba and Glinda, including a cinematically stunning shot of Glinda’s head on Elphaba’s shoulder at 1:22. By 1:44 Glinda and Elphaba are singing “For Good” together in harmony as they swing through the stars. Over an Elphaba-Fiyero-Glinda montage from 1:48-2:09 the orchestra vamps while drums build momentum.

The obligatory trailer climax cut to silence at 2:09 leads into a call and response between the final lyrics of “For Good” and snippets of a conversation between the two stars. We’re reminded both of the power of Glinda’s comedic timing and how hard the Elphaba-Glinda relationship pulls at the heartstrings.

In true Broadway style, we build to a massive choral cadence at 2:30 over a simmering title card, but we’re not even done yet. With one more cut to silence, Elphaba summons hat and broomstick (synched to drum accents), declares calmly “I’m off to see the Wizard,” and zooms off amidst a full measure of trailer triplets, cymbal rolls and blasting choir. Then the trailer’s actually done, for real.

Hats off to Stephen Schwartz and John Powell for creating such incredible music for these two films. (By the way, in case you missed it, Erivo and Grande’s “Defying Gravity” duet at the 2025 Oscars was a tear jerking showstopper). Honestly, I’ll be first in line at my local theatre on November 21st when Wicked: For Good soars into town.

— Jack Hui Litster