When it came time forAriana Grandeto audition for director Jon M. Chu’s movie adaptation ofWicked, he had a pretty good idea about who she should play but, as it turns out, Grande prepared songs sung by Elphaba for her audition. The popular “One Last Time” singer also knew she was more suited to portray Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and it was just a matter of Grande and Chu getting on the same page.
PerEntertainment Weekly, when Grande originally auditioned for Wicked, she prepared multiple songs performed by Elphaba in the Broadway musical. Chu expressed that he never considered Grande for the role of Elphaba and thought for sure she was coming in to read for Glinda. The director said,“We were getting mixed messages. I was like, ‘Of course she’s coming in for Glinda.’ And then my casting director was like, ‘No, I think she thinks she’s coming in for Elphaba. ‘I’m like, ‘That was not the plan.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, she prepped it.'”
Probably out of respect, Chu let Grande perform the Elphaba songs that she prepped for her audition but, as they both soon realized, neither one of them wanted her for Elphaba and thought she was much more suited for Glinda. Chu said,“She was being nice to me, and I was being nice to her. We just let her do it. But in my mind I was like, ‘Why is she singing Elphaba right now?’ Maybe because she’s sung those in the past, but to me, she was always Glinda. We didn’t know each other well enough to be like, ‘Alright, let’s clear up the telephone game here. We are here for Glinda. Right?'”
Ariana Grande Was Born to Play Glinda the Good Witch of the North
Grande’s love for Broadway runs deep, and she has a definite affinity withWicked. She’s particularly close toKristin Chenoweth, who portrayed Glinda in the original Broadway musical, and she has made it no secret that Glinda would be the role of a lifetime. Grande did perform Elphaba’s “The Wizard and I” on NBC’s 15th-anniversary of the Broadway musical, so there was some assumption that Grande may have been interested in playing Elphaba.
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The singer detailed one of her first auditions for the film and revealed that she did audition for both roles and Chu’s comments echo some of the miscommunication regarding what role Grande really wanted. The singer said, “I had an inkling in my heart always that it was going to be Glinda, but I was hearing really mixed things from people who were like, ‘Oh, they maybe want you to read for both.’ And I was like, I guess that’s because they don’t know what my voice is, and maybe they think vocally I might be better suited for Elphaba. I secretly knew that I was only meant for Glinda.”
In the end, the right ladies ended up in their respective roles, with Erivo taking on Elphaba and Grande getting her dream role of Glinda. Ifearly reviews are any indication, Grande is the showstopper of the film, and she has earned considerable Oscar buzz ahead of the movie’s release this Friday. The singer recently stated that she wants to put music on hold tofocus on acting more seriouslyand if the raves she’s getting are any indication, she has a long future ahead as a legitimate actress.
Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
