Warning: This story contains spoilers for Bad
Have you seen any familiar faces in the Emerald City?
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were joined on screen by two very special actors for a memorable scene at the end of the film. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the film’s stars opened up about that “emotional” day on set.
Last chance to avoid spoilers!
There has been speculation for months whether Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, the stars who played the roles of Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway, would appear in the film. Fans had to wait almost two hours before finding out that this was indeed happening.
“It was so surreal,” Grande remembers of the special moment. “[Kristin and Idina] have been so loving and supportive to us. And it was just a very emotional evening. We were done at 7:30 am. The sun was shining and we were all covered in mascara, from head to toe. It was very surreal.”
The cameo occurs during Glinda and Elphaba’s duet “One Short Day”, when they are on their way to meet the Wizard of Oz. Chenoweth and Menzel appear as the Magi and perform a song and dance.
“It was great just having them on set,” Erivo adds. “You know, [Wicked] is their baby. They brought it to the world and it was really cool to be able to share the space and the set with them.”
Erivo says there was one moment she will cherish forever: “I will never forget Idina straightening my hat. It will never leave my mind.”
Idina Menzel, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Kristin Chenoweth at the LA premiere Bad. (Jordan Strauss/AP)
Stephen Schwartz, who composed the Broadway musical on which the film is based, created the new song and dance that Menzel and Chenoweth performed. He told it Today they had “all kinds of ideas” about how to incorporate the stars into the film. They played with Chenoweth who played Glinda’s mother or with the actors who appeared as teachers at Shiz University, where Glinda and Elphaba meet.
“We obviously wanted to honor Kristin and Idina by having them in the film,” he said.
Bad is in theaters now.
