State Champ Radio Wicked
The full-length trailer for the upcoming Wicked films is finally here, featuring the first-ever look at Ariana Grande singing Glinda’s signature song, “Popular.” The three-and-a-half-minute preview, which was released Wednesday (May 15), opens with the pop star’s voice asking, “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” Grande’s bubbly rendition of […]
Just six months remain before the world is changed “For Good.”
In anticipation of part 1 of Jon M. Chu’s upcoming Wicked movie musical, Universal Pictures shared an emotional clip recounting the journey to Wicked from the perspectives of Chu and stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.
“Whenever anyone asks me what’s the one movie you want to do,” mused Chu, who has previously helmed box-office smashes like 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians, “If there was one, I’d always say it’d be Wicked.”
The fourth-longest-running Broadway show of all time, Wicked pulls inspiration from both the stage musical and the best-selling Gregory Maguire-penned novel of the same name. Grande, who recently topped the Billboard 200 with her Eternal Sunshine LP, is set to star as Glinda the Good Witch, with Erivo, a two-time Academy Award nominee, taking on the iconic role of Elphaba, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West.
“On my 25th birthday, I took myself to see the show,” Erivo reflected in the clip. “I’d never heard anything or seen anything like it. I remember it was a rainy night and I felt really alive. I felt like I was floating on air.”
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No stranger to musicals, Erivo has previously lent her talents to The Color Purple, for which she received the 2016 Tony Award for best leading actress in a musical. She also starred in the 2015 Royal Festival Hall production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and the 2016 Town Hall production of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years. This year, the Emmy, Tony and Grammy winner can be seen in the Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. Of course, with starring turns in 2019’s Harriet and 2022’s Disney’s Pinocchio, Erivo has also made an impact on the silver screen.
Though she’s best known for Billboard Hot 100-topping hits like “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” Grande’s acting credits date back to 2008, when she made her Broadway debut in 13, a musical also penned by Brown, with whom Grande later collaborated on “Jason’s Song (Gave It Away)” from 2016’s Dangerous Woman LP.
“I had the incredible privilege of seeing the original Broadway cast of Wicked when I was 10, and I just felt an immediate bond,” Grande says in the video, before it cuts to an old media clip, in which she expresses her desire to play Glinda should Wicked every make it to the big screen. “It’s always been the thing I listen to when I’m nervous, when I’m needing an escape, when I need comfort. I went in for my first audition and I remember buzzing!”
The rest of the clip features behind-the-scenes footage of the film and clips from the phone calls in which Chu officially broke the casting news to Grande and Erivo. Chu gushed that Grande’s audition featured “an Ari that [he’d] never seen before,” while Erivo was “so raw and vulnerable [that] he couldn’t get her out of [his] head.”
Both Grande and Ervio tearfully and graciously accepted their respective offers to join the films’ illustrious cast, with the “7 Rings” singer crying, “Oh my God, thank you! I love [Glinda] so much, I’m gonna take such good care of her!”
“It’s been a really long journey here, and I’m really grateful for it,” says Erivo. “I never thought in my lifetime that I would get to be a part of something like this.”
The rest of the principal Wicked cast will feature Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Olivier winner Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Tony nominee Ethan Slater as Boq, Emmy nominee Bowen Yang as Pfannee and Emmy nominee Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz.
Wicked will be split into two separate movie musicals for the silver screen. The first film is slated to hit theaters on Thanksgiving (Nov. 27), with the second film following almost exactly a year later on Nov. 26, 2025. The film’s first trailer debuted during the 2024 Super Bowl, giving fans a taste of both the whimsical world of Oz and Erivo’s version of the iconic “Defying Gravity” closing riff popularized by Idina Menzel, who won the 2004 leading actress in a musical Tony for the original production of Wicked.
“I want people to see Wicked and experience it in a way they’ve never experienced before,” Chu proclaims at the end of the clip. “I want them to feel what I felt going into the theater for the first time. I want to make them laugh, to make them sing, to make them feel that after they’ve watched it, they’ve been changed for good.”
Watch Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo emotionally accept their Wicked castings below.
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Ariana Grande is dancing through life as she begins the promotional cycle for Wicked.
Two months after the project’s first trailer premiered during the 2024 Super Bowl in February, the pop star and her castmates debuted an exclusive first look at the live-action duology at this year’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday — after which she shared a handful of sweet photos with Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and more on Instagram.
Kicking off her post with a pair of glamour shots, Grande elegantly models her Glinda-esque Oscar De La Renta dress — layered with pieces of pink fabric made to look like flower petals — in two photos from the event. The following snaps find the “Yes, And?” singer making kissy faces with Erivo, Bailey and Yeoh, as well as boyfriend Ethan Slater (who also co-stars in Wicked) and Jeff Goldblum. In one group shot, the whole Ozian gang poses for a mirror selfie at a makeup station backstage.
Grande also shared a video of her and Erivo introducing footage from Wicked onstage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during Universal Pictures’ Focus Features Presentation, speaking in front of a large crowd of fans armed with light-up wands. “When I was 10 years old, I saw Wicked on Broadway for the first time,” she says in the clip, earning laughs after following up with a joke: “It was only five years ago.”
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She and Erivo then joined hands and walked offstage, a photo of which the R.E.M. Beauty founder included in her post. “i am so incredibly giddy and lucky to be your sister,” Grande wrote of Erivo, also sharing the picture on her Story. “i cannot wait for every step of the way with you.”
Resharing another picture of her and Erivo with Bailey, Grande wrote, “my loves.”
The Grammy winner’s post follows a similar one from Goldblum, who posted a different angle of the group’s makeup mirror selfie and wrote, “Over the rainbow to be reunited with this magical family!”
Grande commented, “my heart !!!!!!!!!”
A separate fan video from the convention showed the singer and Slater holding hands as they walked through the venue, the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical actor matching Grande in a pink shirt. The pair started dating while shooting Wicked in the U.K. last year, with Slater playing Boq, a munchkin boy who, ironically, has a crush on Grande’s Glinda.
The first of Jon M. Chu’s two-part film adaptations of the famed Stephen Schwartz musical — which itself was based on Gregory Maguire’s bestselling novel Wicked — arrives this Thanksgiving, with the second installment set to arrive a year later. In the meantime, Grande has been promoting her latest album Eternal Sunshine, which dropped March 8 and spent an immediate two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
And while Grande has seemingly shifted gears back to Wicked, the vocalist recently assured fans that the Eternal Sunshine era is far from over. “i cannot wait for everything that has yet to come within this eternal sunshine cycle (that has only just begun & may it never end),” she captioned a TikTok video of her recording vocals in the studio earlier this week. “thank you for your love.”
Watch Grande and Erivo introduce the Wicked first look at CinemaCon below.
Goodness knows, Ariana Grande has a lot of love for her Wicked castmates. The 30-year-old pop star joined Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum and Michell Yeoh in promoting the upcoming film duology at CinemaCon Wednesday (April 10) in Las Vegas, during which she posed for a set of sweet photos with the group backstage […]
Ariana Grande appeared with her Wicked co-star Bowen Yang in a hilarious spoof of Moulin Rouge during Saturday Night Live on March 9. The five-minute sketch begins as a PBS special, hosted by SNL‘s Mikey Day, that examines what the 2001 movie musical’s “Elephant Love Medley” would’ve looked like if director Baz Luhrmann has been […]
For over a decade now, Ariana Grande has been known as one of the biggest and best voices in contemporary pop music. From “Dangerous Woman” and “Bang Bang” to “Yes, And?” and “7 Rings,” the two-time Grammy-winning Boca Raton-bred vocalist has dominated radio and streaming playlists alike with her trademark riffs and genre-blending catalog. Before […]
Ariana Grande has been changed for good. In an emotional post to her Instagram Story Thursday (Jan. 25), the 30-year-old pop star gushed about her time playing Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in Jon M. Chu’s upcoming Wicked films, the first of which arrives Nov. 27.
“i will never forget even a minute of my year(s) with [Glinda],” she wrote, resharing a post from Chu’s account. “Or you. or my Cyn. permanently and preferably intertwined.”
“i am so inexplicably thankful that we got to add so many soggy eyelashes to the collection,” she continued, tagging the film’s director. “there aren’t words quite yet. but. thank you, Jon, for leading the way with such compassion, openness, brilliance and kindness. i have never seen someone conduct a space the way you do. i love you so much.”
“have an incredibly beautiful last day tomorrow,” the “Positions” singer added, seemingly confirming that Wicked is finally wrapping up more than a year after filming commenced in the U.K. in 2022. The shoot was originally scheduled to conclude in July 2023, but was shut down 10 days before its original end date due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which respectively ended in September and November.
Aside from a couple “first look” photos shared in April, sneak peeks at the Wicked films have been minimal. Grande did, however, also share a snap of her shadow on Thursday, showing off the unmistakable silhouette of her pink Glinda gown.
“like a handprint on my heart,” she captioned the post, quoting lyrics from “For Good.”
And as Grande’s time as Glinda comes to a close, her new era is just beginning. This week, the Victorious alum scored her eighth No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 as her latest single “Yes, And?” debuted in the top spot on the chart, less than two months ahead of her March-slated album, Eternal Sunshine.
“it is overwhelming and so sincerely moving to see how many of you this song has resonated with,” she wrote on her Story Monday (Jan. 22). “it is such a gift to feel so seen and held by you! thank you for your positivity, for your support and for everything. you have no idea how much you mean to me! this is absolutely because of and entirely for you. thank you!”
Ariana Grande has remained tight-lipped in the face of heightened gossip and public scrutiny surrounding her personal life this past year. But in a recent message shared to Instagram Stories before the new year, she seemed to address how she was affected by the 2023 rumor mill.
“One of the most transformative, most challenging, and yet happiest and most special years of my life,” Grande wrote in her Friday (Dec. 29) post, black text layered over a photo of a Glinda the Good Witch illustration. “There were so many beautiful and yet polarized feelings.”
“I’ve never felt more at the mercy of and in acceptance of what life was screaming to teach me,” she continued. “I have never felt more pride or joy or love while simultaneously feeling so deeply misunderstood by people who don’t know me, who piece whispers together and make what they want out of me and their assumptions of my life.”
The “Positions” singer didn’t specify what instances she was referring to, but there was objectively no greater peak in gossip surrounding Grande this year than when reports of her romance with Wicked costar Ethan Slater surfaced. This was partially due to how closely the news followed the vocalist’s reported split from ex-husband Dalton Gomez, as well as Slater’s own separation from wife Lilly Jay, with whom he shares a young son.
Both TMZ and People, however, reported at the time that the Broadway actor and Grande had started dating after both of their prior relationships were over. The seven-time Billboard Hot 100 topper has since been spotted with Slater only a handful of times, most recently in New York City on a Dec. 23 dinner date with Grande’s father.
“i am reacting to things that deserve my energy only and removing and protecting myself from things that do not,” the “POV” hitmaker continued in her post. “i feel more human than ever. i feel more deeply than ever. i feel softer and stronger, all at once.”
“if you ever feel misunderstood of alone, just remember that it will pass and you are not,” she continued. “take a deep breath and know that you are so incredibly loved.”
This year saw Ariana Grande feature on a remix of The Weeknd’s “Die for You,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100. She has confirmed her highly anticipated seventh album is set for a 2024 release. In 2023, she primarily focused on filming the upcoming live adaptations of Wicked — in which she costars as Glinda opposite Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba — as well as her R.E.M. Beauty business.
See Grande’s Story before it disappears here.
Wicked — the wildly successful Broadway musical about the story of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (Glinda the Good Witch) — celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and rising pop stars Reneé Rapp and Lizzy McAlpine are getting in on the festivities.
At the first New York stop of her Snow Hard Feelings Tour, Rapp invited McAlpine onstage to perform an emotional rendition of “For Good,” one of the standout duets on the Wicked soundtrack.
Fan-captured footage via TikTok finds the two singers enrapturing the audience as they assume the roles of Glinda and Elphaba atop a neon-green-lit stage. Rapp choosing to perform “For Good” for the first of her four New York tour stops is unsurprising considering her Broadway roots. In 2019, The Sex Lives of College Girls star enjoyed a brief run as Regina George in the Tony-nominated Mean Girls musical. She is set to reprise her role in the forthcoming film adaptation of the musical, which is set to hit theaters Jan. 12, 2024.
The first part of the two-film adaptation of Wicked, meanwhile, is slated to hit theaters on Nov. 27, 2024. The film’s star-studded cast includes Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang and more.
Rapp’s musical theater background echoes across her music, including Snow Angel, her debut studio LP. The record, which helped Rapp land a pair of MTV Video Music Award nominations this year, debuted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200 with 18,000 units shifted — the biggest first-week total for a debut album by a female artist in 2023. On Tuesday (Oct. 31), Rapp will head to Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre for a special Halloween show where fans are encouraged to attend in costume.
As for McAlpine, the “For Good” duet comes on the heels of an exciting year for the fast-rising folk-pop singer. This year, McAlpine enjoyed the rise of “Ceilings,” which became her very first Billboard Hot 100 hit (No. 54), as well as collaborations with Noah Kahan (“Call Your Mom”) and Niall Horan (“You Could Start a Cult”).
Watch Rapp and McAlpine deliver a gorgeous “For Good” performance below:
Ethan Slater and estranged wife Lilly Jay have filed for divorce on Wednesday (July 26), Billboard can confirm. The reason listed for the divorce is not currently clear. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The musician also spoke out against the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical star’s […]
