Ariana Grande? Cynthia Erivo? Who better to kick off the long-awaited announcement of the movie Wicked with than these two superstars? The Wizard of Oz prequel from Stephen Schwartz has been discussed as a movie for nearly a decade, and now fans are finally getting what they’ve been eagerly anticipating for years!
Wicked tells the story of Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West before they became the famous characters known today. In this telling, the two met as roommates in college and were known as Galinda and Elphaba. They were unlikely friends with an unbreakable bond before taking separate paths that led them to their now iconic selves.
When the musical first hit the stage in 2003, it went on to become one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time, winning 3 Tony Awards!
Erivo will star as Elphaba while Grande will star opposite her as Glinda. Erivo is a Tony, Grammy, and daytime Emmy winning vocal powerhouse.
International pop-star Grande actually has roots on stage! She started on Broadway in the musical 13 in 2008, and even performed “The Wizard and I” from Wicked during an NBC live in 2018.
Here’s what else we know so far about the Movie Musical Wicked:
- Filming has not yet started, but production is supposed to begin in June 2022 in the UK
- It will take place on sound stages in the newly built Sky Studios in Elstree, England
- Jon M. CHu, Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights filmmaker, will be the director
- Marc Platt (La La Land) will produce the film
- Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book for the Broadway musical, and Stephen Schwartz, who composed the songs, are working on the screenplay together
- The rest of the cast is yet to be determined
