The “Wicked” movie, or at least the first half of it, is finally here. The film based on the iconic musical written and composed by Jewish Broadway maven Steven Schwartz and starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo has taken the world, and the box offices, by storm, breaking all kinds of records.
And so we’re not surprised that it’s also taking the world of Hanukkah parodies by storm. A cappella group Six13, behind some of the best Jewish holiday parodies out there, has just released a Hanukkah “Wicked” medley that acknowledges the darkness of the past year while reminding us how we’ve always been best at “Defining Destiny” (their take on “Defying Gravity”) as a people.
The video, and the song, start out somber. “This year has changed our history/We’ll never been the same,” the group sings, sitting together in a circle, to the melody of “Defying Gravity.” The video of them singing is juxtaposed with images of grief from Israel, like Rachel Goldberg-Polin desperately calling out to her son Hersh while he was held captive in Gaza just a few days before his body was recovered by the IDF.
Yet, the song goes on to highlight the importance of counting our blessings and miracles.
“We know we’ll thrive/Defining destiny/We won’t stand by/Defining destiny/And they won’t bring us down,” they sing, as we watch videos of the group performing in Israel and at the March for Israel in Washington, DC. They look back at moments of resilience from Jewish history, singing about the story of Hanukkah and the rise of “defiant Maccabees.”
We then get a fun moment of levity with their take on the Glinda hit “Popular,” replacing the word with “Hanukkah.” It centers a bright Hanukkah celebration full of fun props (I am obsessed with the Hanukkah llamakah plush featured in this segment!) and a chant about “la la latkes” (perfect rewriting, no notes).
This part features two actresses dressed up as Elphaba (Arielle Flax) and Glinda (Stephanie Israelson), who hold signature green and pink menorahs, respectively. Flax and Israelson, both Jewish actresses and singers, are really delightful in these roles, with Israelson wearing a big fluffy pink coat and spinning pink dreidels and Flax ominously hovering over a Hanukkah snow globe and utilizing her witch’s broom to its full potential. Yet for those who have long kvetched about the lack of inclusion of women in these Hanukkah parodies (it’s me, I’m those people), I will say it is jarring to see them just silently mime as a group of men sing tunes made iconic in part by Jewish women like Idina Menzel (luckily, we did get a fun coed parody from Park Avenue Synagogue this holiday season).
We end the video, of course, with a rousing “Defying Gravity,” or rather, “Defining Destiny,” reprise, featuring the group, the actresses and a delightful gang of young children dressed as Glindas and Elphabas.
“So if you care to join us/ Look to the candlelight/As we commemorate/ We stand together/ Am Yisrael chai!” they chant proudly, rightly asserting that “no terror or Antiochus/no enemy there is or was/is ever gonna bring us down” with that iconic image in the background of a menorah being lit in a window in 1932 Germany in the face of Nazi flags as well as soldiers celebrating Hanukkah and sprawling pictures of Jerusalem.
They end by wishing everyone a happy Hanukkah, singing their gratitude — “al hanisim bayamin hahem ba zman hazeh,” for the miracles in ancient days and in this season, an integral part of the Hanukkah blessings which we are about to say each night this coming holiday.
Watch this wondrous video below:
