While a number of musical have won best Picture over the years, another might join those ranks depending on how Wicked: For Good performs at Awards Season. Jon M. Chu’s pair of movies expertly adapted the beloved musical for film, and Wicked crushed at the box office both times. For Good will be available to watch from home on December 30th, along with a behind the scenes documentary about how the project came together. I had the chance to see the doc early thanks to an awesome event promoting the movie’s home release, and it revealed another A+ ad lib by Bowen Yang that didn’t make it into the theatrical cut. Although I personally wish we got to see all of his one-liners on the big screen.
Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the Wicked: For Good home entertainment event in NYC, which featured the real costumes from the movie (including Elphaba’s famous sex cardigan). Those in attendance got to see the movie’s documentary which will accompany its premium digital release on December 30th, where Yang’s scene-stealing character Pfannee got another memorable one-liner. After the “Dearest Glinda” part of the opening number “Every Day More Wicked”, Yang hilariously said to the ensemble of dancers:
You all shouldn’t be so scared. That is a general note for all of you.
I pretty much fell out of my chair when this line was uttered. I guess you could say I’m a Pfan of Yang’s work on the Wicked movies, and the hilarious ad-libs he brought to the movie musicals. He took a relatively small role and expanded it thanks to his comedic genius, which fans obviously know thanks to his Emmy-nominated tenure on Saturday Night Live (which is streaming with a Peacock subscription). And I need to see a full reel of the his one-liners that ultimately didn’t make it into Chu’s pair of movies.
In the first Wicked movie, Yang had some of the funniest lines of dialogue, many of which he seemingly improvised thanks to his long history with sketch comedy. Stand out moments include his reaction to Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, as well as saying that he “doesn’t see color” after meeting Elphaba for the first time. One of his cut scenes featured another hilarious improv that has gone viral, despite not actually being in the theatrical cut. Namely his utterance of “I’ve been… through” when catching up with Ariana Grande’s Glinda. Luckily you can check out that viral sequence below:
While Jon M. Chu admitted he cut down Yang’s role in For Good, he was still able to make a big impact alongside Bronwyn James’s Shen Shen. But the clip where he’s featured in the movie’s documentary shows the type of hilarious energy that he brought to the set while the two musicals were filmed. Now give us a full sizzle reel full of his ad-libs, you cowards!
Audiences will be able to see this latest hilarious Pfannee line when Wicked: For Good gets its premium digital release on December 30th. We’ll just have to wait and see if even more footage from Bowen Yang’s hilarious performance is released to the masses.
