Wicked’s beautiful extended ‘Dancing Through Life’ scene could only work on film

Yes, Wicked: Part I is only the first act of the Broadway musical, and yes, clocking in at two hours and 40 minutes, it’s basically the length of the full stage show. But director Jon M. Chu mostly uses that extra time to flesh out the emotional beats of the plot and dig into the characters more meaningfully. No scene exemplifies that more than the extended Ozdust Ballroom duet between bubbly socialite Galinda/Glinda (Ariana Grande) and outcast Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo).

The duet exists in the stage show, as the two women dance in the midst of the show’s longest song, “Dancing Through Life.” In the movie, the song is even longer, but the expanded version is very much worth the run time.

In the stage show, after Elphaba shows up at the Ozdust Ballroom party in the ugly pointy black hat Galinda tricked her into wearing, she decides to dance alone in an act of defiance. Everyone at the party stares at her, but she holds her head up high, risking further humiliation. Then Galinda extends a hand to her, and the two dance together. It’s a brief pause in the rush of the song, but because the original musical takes place on a stage, it’s all conveyed through a dance the audience sees at a distance.

That makes sense within the context of the stage show. But a movie can zoom in on the actors and magnify the most intimate moments. So in this version, Chu decides to linger on each distinct flutter of emotion and convey what each specific beat in the exchange means to the two characters involved.

The camera focuses closely on Elphaba, capturing her loneliness, her resignation, her feeling that she’s always going to be dancing by herself. Without speaking at all, Erivo conveys a hint of vulnerability through that stony mask — as well as a determination not to let anyone see her falter. Elphaba’s solo dance drags on to the point where it’s almost painfully uncomfortable. But that’s the point. She’s determined to pretend to the rest of the Shiz students that their derisive snickers aren’t getting to her — even though they really are.

When Galinda comes in and literally reaches a hand out to her, brushing her fingers against the side of Elphaba’s face, it’s not surprising to see the tears that come to Elphaba’s eyes. It’s a deeply emotional moment, probably the first time in Elphaba’s entire life that someone’s invited her in or reached out to touch her in such a gentle way. In turn, she lets her own aloof guard down, letting Galinda see her vulnerability. It’s an exchange, a true duet that requires both partners to fully commit.

Chu’s extended versions of the original scenes don’t always work, especially in the movie’s prolonged final scene, which breaks up the musical’s most iconic song, “Defying Gravity,” until it loses some of its impact. But when it comes to this tender moment between the two leads, the choice to slow down the action and zoom in on the emotions ends up making it ache in the best sort of way. It intensifies every part of the central duo’s relationship going forward, and makes the ultimate tragedy — where Glinda turns away from Elphaba’s metaphorical outreached hand in “Defying Gravity” — even more heartbreaking.

Wicked is ultimately a tragedy, but it’s also a love story, regardless of whether you read the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda as romantic or platonic. Either way, the “Dancing Through Life” duet dance is the moment that love is offered and reciprocated. Chu gives it the space it deserves, and Erivo and Grande pull it off with poignant finesse.

Wicked is in theaters now.