Vanity Fair just dropped first-look images from the most highly anticipated film of 2024 and they are wicked good. Probably because they're from the adaptation of the hit Broadway musical prequel to the Wizard of Oz — Wicked — which itself was based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire.
Wicked first hit Broadway in 2003 and was an instant smash hit, winning three Tony Awards, one Grammy and turning Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel into household names (for everyone except John Travolta). Before Menzel ever “Let It Go” in Frozen, she had fans singing Defying Gravity, along with Chenoweth's aptly titled crowd-pleaser Popular.
That original Broadway cast was quite beloved for the roles they originated, which generated quite a bit of interest in who could possibly fill their shoes for the movie adaptation.
So who's playing Glinda and Elphaba?
This is probably old news to musical theater fans, but for those who may have been partaking in an extended media hibernation the past few years, the lucky actresses who get to don the sparkly crown and green face paint are Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, respectively.
Ariana Grande is best known as a pop music icon and former Nickelodeon child star. Vanity Fair reports that she got the part of Glinda through sheer determination and persistence. Maybe even some light stalking of producer Marc Platt, as Grande told her interviewer: “It was literally 10 years of being like, ‘Knock, knock, any developments? Is there an audition coming this year, or next year? I would like to start preparing today.'”
Wicked's film director, Jon M. Chu, backs this assessment up. “Every time she came in to audition, she’d be there at least 30 minutes early,” he explains. “I’d see her car circling. I’d be like, ‘Who is that?' ‘That’s Ariana Grande.' ‘Why is she here so early?'”
That go-getter spirit paid off and Grande booked the part. As for Glinda's counterpart, Elphaba, British actress Cynthia Erivo has a slightly different road to getting cast.
Erivo is best know for playing Harriet Tubman in the biopic about the famous abolitionist, Harriet, that came out in 2019, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress along with another nomination for Best Original Song for the beautiful anthem she wrote and performed in the film called “Stand Up”.
Erivo has also won an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony, yet she still “honestly didn’t believe I’d be seen” for the role of Elphaba. When she found out she'd be getting an audition however, she admits “I was training like I was a boxer.” When Chu and Platt heard her audition song, Chu explains, “Marc and I looked at each other and we’re like, ‘We’re done.'”
What about the rest of the cast?
As the pics released by Vanity Fair showcase, the rest of the cast is pretty darn impressive and on-point too. Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz feels like a much better use of his talents than those Apartments.com commercials. Bowen Yang as Pfannee should be very funny. Michelle Yeoh, who worked with director Chu on Crazy Rich Asians, is always excellent, so it's safe to expect the same with her playing Madame Morrible.
As for Ethan Slater, who is a Tony nominee himself for playing the lead in the Broadway musical adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants, the piece elaborates that he “won the role of Boq with his comedic chops.” Seems like off-camera he won the heart of Ariana Grande at some point in the process as well, so don't you owe it to yourself to see the film that brought them together?
As for the rest of the cast, there's Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, and Bronwyne James as ShenShen, all of whom look picture perfect in character in the first look photos released.
Why did it take so long to adapt Wicked into a movie?
For the massive Broadway hit that Wicked was, twenty-plus years certainly feels like a long time to get it to the big screen. Vanity Fair notes that “directors as varied as J.J. Abrams, Ryan Murphy, and Rob Marshall were all reported to have circled the movie at some point.”
Further, “rumor has it actors like Lea Michele and Amy Adams did too. For years, Stephen Daldry was attached to direct, but that version fell apart.”
Marc Platt, producer of both the Wicked Broadway show and film, admitted, “having done something well in one sandbox, there’s pressure if you’re going to do it in the other sandbox.”
He continued “Maybe subconsciously, I was like, ‘I’m not quite ready for that, emotionally.'”
Choosing the right director for the adaptation also sounds like it was an arduous process, especially since “the Broadway show was staggering in scale and included two of this century’s most beloved musical theater songs, ‘Popular' and ‘Defying Gravity'.”
Jon M. Chu, the director of Crazy Rich Asians and the film adaptation of another popular Broadway musical, In the Heights, provided that unique take Platt was looking for. Chu is described as “an OG Wicked fan who saw the musical during its pre-Broadway tryout in San Francisco.”
“I remember thinking, Oh, wow. It feels like a movie already,” Chu recalls.
Ironic given how long it's taken to get the film version into theaters, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait. And no one will accuse the creatives of cutting the Wicked musical short for its film adaptation — for its big screen treatment, Wicked is actually being split into two films.
The first part will be released this Thanksgiving, with part two premiering one year later. That's quite a long intermission, but I guess they want to be sure to leave ample time to use the restroom. And pretty sure the studio behind the film, Universal Pictures, won't mind audiences having to buy two rounds of tickets to see the whole film. Sounds like fans of the musical, and a whole new generation who weren't even born when the Broadway show came out, should be getting amped up for a Wicked good time.
Follow Us
Subscribe