If Advent Was a Song From Wicked

evil It has once again captured the cultural spotlight and woven itself into the fabric of our collective consciousness. It’s a topic Late night shows and SNL skits While our social media feeds are filled with viral choreography. But at this moment in December, if it is Advent evil Song, it won’t be “dancing through life” or “popular”. Advent is not a polished performance with perfectly synchronized steps; It’s like an unscripted, raw and sometimes bizarre dance. If the coming was a evil The song, the duet will be in Ozdust Hall.

I don’t associate the church’s current liturgical moment with its current box office success simply because it aligns with our calendars. There’s a new scene in evilA film adaptation that can help us see the importance of seasons of waiting as we follow Jesus. First, however, some background evil.

evil Reimagines a story Wizard of Ozfocusing on the complex friendship between Elphaba, a misunderstood green-skinned girl, and Glinda, the bubbly “good witch.” Set in the magical land of Oz, this musical deals with themes of power, identity and societal expectations, and has produced such memorable hits as “Defying Gravity,” “Dancing Through Life” and “Popular.”

Originally a book and then a Broadway production, evil It’s now – to the delight of music fans – a movie. I suppose movie adaptations carry the pressure and weight of expectations, but director Jon M. Chu seems to have risen to the occasion (defying gravity for?). Relying on practical sets rather than CGIHe leans into movement and song to tell a deeper story.

Ethan Slater, who played Puck in the film, He recalls a speech Cho gave to the 100 dancers On the set of “Dancing Through Life,” one of the biggest musical hits in the movie. Slater shared that Cho emphasized his love of telling stories through dance, and that he wanted the artists to tell their own stories through movement. Slater recalls Cho saying: “I’m not here to bust your moves and tell my story. I’m here to help you tell your story through dance, and we’re all in it together.” According to Slater, Cho maintained this energy and attitude throughout the entire filming process.

Cho emphasizes that musicals shine when the music feels like a natural extension of emotion. He describes his goal as making the transition from dialogue to song so smooth that the audience does not realize they have entered a musical moment. Reflecting on “Defying Gravity,” he said: “You’re suddenly in a song that you don’t even know you’re in yet“, emphasizing the improvisational and raw beauty in music’s ability to express deeper truths.

What better time to meditate on deeper truths than Advent? This is the time when we enter into the story of Christ’s redemption; It is full of holiday cheer and big feelings even when the church calendar calls us to wait. At its core, Advent is about tensionabout living God’s story “already but not yet.” Advent means “arrival,” yet we are asked to wait. We declare that God has done what He said He would do, and we ask Him to do what He said He would do.

Unlike the precision of the Broadway number, Advent feels more like an improvisation. It’s awkward and raw. We find ourselves in the middle of something we don’t fully understand but are eagerly awaiting what is to come. But this waiting is not passive. It is a weak engagement with God and time itself. Advent is not a season of resolution, but rather a season of living with the unresolved—much like bittersweet pain evilDuet.

In the film adaptation of evilthe Ozdust hall scene brings a new dimension to the story. Chu describes how The movie scene is different from the theatrical version“It all had a bigger purpose in our film. It’s this giant pivot when things start to get real here for their relationships, and place and geography sometimes helps express those things. The way Chu frames this scene reflects Advent’s invitation to pause and engage with Something deeper, clearer and truer.

When the scene begins, the tension between Elphaba and Glinda becomes palpable. Earlier in the evening, Glinda had embarrassed Elphaba by giving her a silly hat meant to embarrass her while dancing. But when Elphaba steps onto the dance floor, surrounded by silence and a gaping audience, she puts on her hat and dances not to fit in, but to express herself weakly and shakily. Her movements are raw and unrefined, a stark contrast to her previous polished routines. Then Elphaba puts the hat back on. This moment of weakness changes something in Glinda, who responds silently and joins Elphaba. Their rivalry aside, we are now witnessing a moment of connection. They go through the motions together as a call and response, the dance continues, and we realize we have witnessed a change in the story and the characters.

Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda He remembers how he spent a day and a half filming this particular scenedescribing it as “complete silence, and everyone in the room was right there with Cynthia and had a very warm space for how much she was giving the whole time.” Grande deliberately unlearned choreography in order to ensure that the moment when Glinda joins Elphaba was as real as possible: “I felt like the more awkward it looked on Glinda, the more beautiful it became. We’re both just little wild deer greeting each other and trying to figure out how to “Speaking the same language is very awkward, and I love it so much.”

Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba. shares How the original choreography for Ozdust’s scene didn’t fit with the way she saw her character. in evilIn the Elphaba stage show, Elphaba’s movements were meant to be funny. But telling the story through film allowed the ability to focus on the moments and minute details to reveal a more intimate side of the character. The choreography evolved so that the movements almost narrated Elphaba’s inner journey. Every time she was photographed, she performed the dance from beginning to end, crying at the end of each shot as she sought to capture the emotions of the moment. like Erivo describes it“All Elphaba’s weaknesses have to be on the outside – that’s what it drives with.”

Throughout the movie, Cho is patient during those vulnerable moments between Elphaba and Glinda. “You can’t rush this” He said. “Every beat felt necessary.” Even though it was an emotionally exhausting day, Erivo still describes it As “the most special moment I’ve ever had. It really feels like magic.”

The vulnerability of the scene, its awkward movements, the way the camera pauses at unmentioned moments—at hesitation, at longing—all reflect our Advent journey. Just as the dancers in the scene do not rush towards the climax, Advent invites us not to live in advance but to wait without rushing towards the solution.

Although this waiting is necessary, it does not always seem intuitive. James K Smith He points out that the Christian life is not about skipping to the last verse; It’s about learning He lives In the song, feeling the rhythm and moving with the dance: “The faithful Christian life is a matter of keeping time with the Spirit… ‘What do we do now?’ is one of the fundamental questions of discipleship.

It takes a kind of perilous discernment to know what season and what kind of time we are in. Smith describes how a church’s worship calendar can help with this as a “spirit calibration technique,” which shapes us over time and guides our lives. Responding to God’s unfolding story. The Church, through the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, guides us in this dance, helping us to attune our hearts to the deeper movements of God at work. Coming draws us into these rhythms of waiting. It is not a passive pausing, but an active inhabitation of time – where, like the Özdast dancers, we learn how to “wait” with anticipation and grace.

In Advent, we too are called to something uncertain and incomplete. We are not handed a carefully choreographed number but instead asked to participate in a story that is still unfolding. Advent does not require perfection, but rather requires presence. Just as the duet of Elphaba and Glinda seeks not flawless execution, but emotional connection, Advent invites us to connect with God in the raw, unfinished spaces of our world and our lives.

Ozdust’s scene makes room for the emotional complexities of the moment. The choreography slows and the camera lingers on the unspoken between Elphaba and Glinda: the initial arrival of communication between Elphaba and Glinda, and the latter’s hesitation. It is in these quiet, uncertain moments that the emotional weight of the scene is felt. This is Advent: living in tension, in pause, in waiting. We were handed a song in a minor key and invited to respond.