Ariana to star in ‘Wicked’ musical

Ariana Grande will star in Universal’s adaptation of popular musical ‘Wicked’. Cynthia Erivo will star alongside Ariana in the musical.

The film is to be directed by ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ director Jon M Chu. Erivo will play Elphaba while Grande will play Glinda, reports Variety.

The stars announced their castings in respective Instagram posts on Thursday evening.

“Dear Cynthia, honored doesn’t even begin to cover it. I cannot wait to hug you. See you in Oz,” Grande wrote in a message to Erivo, sent with a pink and green floral arrangement (the signature colors of Glinda and Elphaba).

A ‘Wicked’ film has been in the works at Universal since 2004, a year after it debuted on Broadway. It went on to generate more than $1 billion in ticket sales, one of just three shows to do so.

The ‘Wicked’ film adaptation has been a long time coming, and was most recently stalled by Stephen Daldry’s departure as director last October due to scheduling conflicts. Stephen Schwartz, who penned the music and lyrics to the Broadway show, is adapting the screenplay with Winnie Holzman. Marc Platt, who produced the Broadway musical, is set to also produce the film.

‘Wicked’ adapts the novel by Gregory Maguire, and is a take on the Wizard of Oz story, telling of the friendship between the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good Witch. In its original Broadway run, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth portrayed frenemies Elphaba, who would become the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good Witch. With Broadway theaters reopening after a long pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “Wicked” has recently resumed its live performances.

Erivo is a two-time Oscar nominee for ‘Harriet’ (2019), and was nominated for an Emmy for playing Aretha Franklin in Genius: Aretha. She boasts a Grammy and a Tony for The Color Purple and made her first big push into film acting with Bad Times at the El Royale (2018).

Grande is one of the biggest pop stars in the world, boasting two Grammys and multi-platinum albums. She will appear in Adam McKay’s Netflix film ‘Don’t Look Up’, opposite Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawerence. She got her acting start early on Nickelodeon’s Victorious and the spinoff Sam & Cat.

Both stars shared the news on their Instagram accounts. Production is expected to begin in the summer in the UK.