Well, it doesn't look like there are any new songs on the Wicked soundtrack

Wicked: The Soundtrack will include the 11 songs from Act One of the stage show

By Emma Keates  |  October 9, 2024 | 11:20am
Screenshot: Wicked Movie/YouTube
Film News Wicked
Well, it doesn't look like there are any new songs on the Wicked soundtrack

Wicked apparently saw all of its fellow musical-to-movie adaptations adding original songs as Oscar bait and said, “I’m not that girl.” Universal just announced the soundtrack for the upcoming film, and, per Variety, it contains all 11 songs from Act One of the stage show, but—for all intents and purposes—only those 11 songs. This is a marked change from movie-musicals’ recent practice of slipping a new song or two into the score to become eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar. The Color Purple had two in “Keep It Movin” and “Superpower (I)”. Mean Girls put theirs in the credits with “Not My Fault” (featuring Megan Thee Stallion). Even the 2o12 adaptation of Les Misérables dared to add the original song “Suddenly” to one of the most iconic scores of all time. (The song was nominated for the Oscar, but didn’t win.)

That all being said, a preview of Wicked: The Soundtrack on Apple Music does contain commentary from original composer Stephen Schwartz and a song titled “Ozdust Duet” credited to The Wicked Orchestra. This is presumably an instrumental that wouldn’t be submitted for Best Original Song, and very well might be a part of the original stage show. It also isn’t currently listed anywhere on the soundtrack’s official site.

This tracklist will probably be happy news for Wicked purists and superfans, who just wanted to see a faithful adaptation of their favorite show without having to pay Broadway prices. The soundtrack is beloved and instantly recognizable, and any potential new song would have a high bar to clear to merit its inclusion. On the other hand, the upcoming Part One is two hours and 40 minutes long—almost the exact runtime of the entire stage show, which includes a 15-minute intermission. That means the movie will somehow have to fill the space of an entire act with only half the songs, which is a bit concerning.

Of course, director Jon M. Chu insists that “this isn’t half the homework.” As he explained to Entertainment Weekly, in incorporating elements from the Gregory Maguire novel that inspired the musical as well as Frank L. Baum’s original The Wizard Of Oz stories, “we were able to find other moments that could blossom and we could add our own little twist to it.” Just don’t expect those moments to be very musical.

The soundtrack will be released alongside the film on November 22, but you can preorder today. The full tracklist is below:

  1. “No One Mourns The Wicked”
  2. “Dear Old Shiz”
  3. “The Wizard And I”
  4. “What Is This Feeling?”
  5. “Something Bad”
  6. “Dancing Through Life”
  7. “Popular”
  8. “I’m Not That Girl”
  9. “One Short Day”
  10. “A Sentimental Man”
  11. “Defying Gravity”

 
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