Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo revealed Thursday night (Nov. 4) that they’re starring in a movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked.
The two stars shared Instagram pictures from a tearful video call where they learned they’d be starring as the witches from the Land of Oz. Grande will play Glinda the Good Witch — made famous by Kristin Chenoweth in the original 2003 production — while Erivo will portray Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West, the role originated by Idina Menzel on Broadway.
“Thank goodness,” Grande captioned her series of photos, tagging director Jon M. Chu — who will helm the adaptation for Universal — as well as Erivo and the @wickedmovie Instagram page. Grande’s photos include a picture of a bouquet of flowers with a card reading, “‘Pink Goes Good With Green’ Congratulations Miss A, The Part Was Made For You, I Look Forward To Sharing This Musical Journey With You. Love, Cynthia.”
Erivo captioned her pictures “Pink goes good with Green,” while tagging the same group. She also shared flowers from her co-star, with Grande writing on the card: “dear cynthia, honored doesn’t even begin to cover it. i cannot wait to hug you. see you in oz. all my love, ari.”
The Steven Schwartz musical is based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, which itself is a retelling of the 1900 L. Frank Baum classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, told from the perspective of the witches. Screenwriter Winnie Holsman and composer Schwartz are adapting the musical for the screen.
Grande and Erivo will both be making their returns to Broadway. The “thank u, next” pop star got her start in the 2008 Broadway musical 13 as a teenager before breaking out on Nickelodeon’s Victorious. Erivo won the 2016 Tony Award for best performance by a leading actress in a musical for her portrayal of Celie in The Color Purple.
Grande’s love for Wicked has been well-documented over the years, including her explosive performance of “The Wizard and I” on NBC’s A Very Wicked Halloween back in 2018.
See Grande and Erivo’s posts below:
