Ariana Grande’s Wicked Audition Could Have Gone Really Wrong

Movie auditions are stressful enough, but nothing is more nerve-wracking than showing up and reading for the wrong part. For Ariana Grande, who stars in the upcoming two-part Wicked movie as Glinda, that nightmare became a reality. Before eventually earning her dream role as the popular good witch, the film’s director, Jon M. Chu, recently confessed that she accidentally sang for Elphaba during her original audition.

Wicked’s film adaptation is based on the 2003 Tony Award-winning musical that follows The Wizard of Oz’s prequel journey of witches Glinda and Elphaba from Shiz University students to the latter becoming the Wicked Witch of the West. The show combined Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel of the same name and the musical genius of Stephen Schwartz. The classic story is finally coming to the big screen and also features Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, and Bowen Yang. As the film’s release nears, none of the other stars seem to have had an issue with their audition. So, what mix-up resulted in Grande preparing for the wrong role?

Release Date

November 22, 2024

Cast

Cynthia Erivo , Ariana Grande , Michelle Yeoh , Jeff Goldblum , Jonathan Bailey , Ethan Slater , Marissa Bode , Bowen Yang , Bronwyn James , Keala Settle , Peter Dinklage , Aaron Teoh , Grecia De la Paz , Colin Michael Carmichael , Adam James , Andy Nyman , Courtney Mae-Briggs , Sharon D. Clarke , Jenna Boyd

Runtime

160 Minutes

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A Telephone Game of Miscommunication

Grande’s first Wicked audition was on Aug. 13, 2021, and she was asked to prepare for both Elphaba and Glinda. She sang two Glinda songs, “No One Mourns, the Wicked” and “Popular,” as well as Elphaba’s famously difficult “Defying Gravity.” According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jon M. Chu was confused about Grande singing for Elphaba at all because he only ever considered her for the role of Glinda.

Apparently, his casting directors and Grande’s team were “getting mixed messages” from each other. Even though Grande has publicly spoken about her desire to play Glinda, she only ever publicly sang Elphaba’s “The Wizard and I” while on NBC’s celebration of the musical’s 15th anniversary during a 2018 Halloween special. Seeing her performance, casting made the incorrect assumption that Grande was interested in the part of Elphaba and had her sing for both of Wicked’s leading roles.

Grande also recently shared her perspective on the matter. During an interview on the Sentimental Men podcast, she addressed the initial audition and found humor in the mishap, “The funny thing is that before this, publicly, [Erivo and I] had only ever sung the opposite songs”. Regardless of this irony, Grande knew that she was destined to play Glinda. So, when the time to audition finally came, and she was asked to prepare for both roles, she went along with it. Grande just thought the casting directors weren’t familiar with her voice, and they wanted to see who she was better suited to play.

Despite the miscommunication, Chu allowed Grande to sing the songs she prepped for anyway. “She was being nice to me, and I was being nice to her,” Chu explained, “We just let her do it. But in my mind I was like, ‘Why is she singing Elphaba right now?'” Both Chu and Grande always saw her as Glinda, but neither one was comfortable enough with each other to directly clear up the confusion. However, Grande did show up to her first audition wearing only pink and drinking from a pink water bottle — the identifying color of the famous good witch. So, in the end, both parties sorted it all out, but we almost had a horrible case of poor casting on our hands.

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Kristin Chenoweth’s Pre-Audition Message to Ariana Grande

Grande has been very open about wanting to play Glinda in the past. So much so that she’s since developed a long-time friendship with Kristin Chenoweth, who originally brought the role to life on Broadway, due to her love and passion for the character. While on Sentimental Men, Grande even teared up when thinking about Chenoweth’s supportive reaction to hearing about her audition. After years of the pair talking about the possibility of Grande eventually playing the role in a film adaptation, when the time came it was still an emotional moment for both of them. Chenoweth even excused herself to the bathroom to cry (tears of joy).

According to Grande, Chenoweth was nothing but encouraging and happy for her, “It was the sweetest thing in the world…she was just like, ‘I was hoping this would happen. I love you, and I trust you with it, baby girl.'” So, no worries about drama between witches refusing to pass the wand. The two friends are equally excited about Grande taking on the iconic role.

During an interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show last year, Chenoweth talked about her advice for Grande going forward. She claimed that the singer had already made her proud, and that she told Grande to “make Glinda your Glinda.” So, although Grande wants to pay homage to Chenoweth’s most-famous character, audiences can anticipate a fresh Glinda that does her past justice while also giving them something new to enjoy. The first part of Wicked is currently in theaters.