Wicked‘s director said Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo never met for script reads during auditions, so their chemistry together was never tested. Both were standout picks for Glinda and Elphaba before they even met.
Director Jon M. Chu knew Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were perfectly cast for Wicked the moment they all met. “They came to my house to meet for the first time,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “[Composer and lyricist] Stephen Schwartz was there, and he started playing ‘For Good’ on the piano. They just went up there and started singing. At that moment, their voices intertwined, and I knew it was right.” That was also Grande and Erivo’s first meeting after an arduous audition process; they did test reads with other actors but the chemistry wasn’t there.
Chu wasn’t sure about Grande and Erivo’s onscreen dynamic, he just knew they were perfect for their parts. “They read with different people, but at the end of the day it very much was obvious that she was Elphaba and she was Glinda,” he recalled. “I didn’t know that they would work. I didn’t know if they would like each other. I had no idea the actual personalities of that, but I knew that they were right for those roles.” Well aware of Broadway’s long line of Glinda and Elphaba actors, Chu knew there was something about the musical that brought its leads together.
Airana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Join A Long Line Of Wicked Leads
“There’s something in the alchemy of Wicked, you can talk to any cast about this, the Elphabas and Glindas are always very different and yet they share a similar power in a way,” he added. “So I trusted that that alchemy would work here, and it worked in spades.” The musical has cast 37 Glindas and 46 Elphabas since it opened in 2003 on Manhattan’s Main Stem. Kristin Chenoweth was the first actor to play Glinda and Idina Menzel debuted Elphaba. Both joined Grande and Erivo at the film’s Los Angeles premiere; Menzel confirmed they were passing the torch to Wicked‘s leads in the latest adaptation.
“To see it grow through all of these iterations, and to know that we’re passing the torch to Cynthia and Ariana who it’s in such beautiful hands and they’re going to do a wonderful job, and to know that it’s going to reach an even wider audience than ever and tell this story about real female empowerment is special,” Menzel told ABC News. Fans and critics confirm Grande and Erivo’s onscreen chemistry was perfect, and they fleshed out their characters with impeccable acting and singing prowess. Both revealed that their bond has only strengthened since they first met, however. “I think we both gained a lifelong friend,” they asserted.
