Film Adaptation Of “Wicked”: Ariana Grande And Cynthia Erivo To Star As Leads
The award-winning musical is set to defy gravity with this powerhouse witch duo.
After a long-anticipated wait, the Wizard of Oz prequel, composed by Stephen Schwartz and written by Winnie Holzman, is finally set to make its mark on the big-screen.
After first hitting the stage in 2003, the theatre show has gone on to become one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time. Based on Gregory Maguire’s bestselling book of the same name, “Wicked” tells the untold story of the witches of Oz – Glinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. The story takes us through the unlikely friendship formed between the two, whilst providing an insight into the backstory of Oz.
A decade in the making – the upcoming movie revision of the musical has confirmed that pop princess, Ariana Grande, will be playing the coveted role of Glinda. The singer is no stranger to the world of Oz, having performed “The Wizard and I” during an NBC anniversary special, back in 2018. Grande showcased her delight at the new role in an Instagram post, captioning it “Thank Goodness” – followed by a heart emoji.
Starring alongside her will be vocal superstar, Cynthia Erivo. The Tony award- winner and Oscar nominee recently portrayed Aretha Franklin in the TV show “Genius”. Also taking to Instagram to share the news with her 708K followers – Erivo looked overjoyed as she captioned the post “Pink goes good with Green” – not forgetting to tag Ari.
While further casting and no release date is yet known – it has been said that “Crazy Rich Asians” filmmaker, Jon M. Chu is set to direct the adaption. According to reports, production is set to begin in June 2022, so we still have a while to wait. However, that does not take away from the infectious hype surrounding the upcoming movie musical!
The original Glinda and theatre legend, Kristin Chenoweth, paid tribute to the cast announcement - posting a screenshot of a tweet from 2011, in which Grande referred to the part of Glinda as her “dream role”. Talk about manifesting your goals Ari!
Idina Menzel – “Frozen” star, and the first to play Elphaba in the Broadway show, also took to social media - publicly sharing her “love” for the newly cast pair.
Congratulating each other on their achievement, both Grande and Erivo have exclaimed their excitement at sharing this “musical journey” together.
We can’t wait to see the movie version of this star-studded show take flight! Stay tuned.
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