Based on all the interviews that Ariana Grande has given to promote Wicked, you’d be forgiven for thinking that everyone involved always knew that her dream was to play Glinda — and that she auditioned for that role. Except, it turns out that wasn’t the case, due to what director Jon M. Chu calls a “miscommunication.”
Earlier in November, Ariana told a podcast that she auditioned for both Glinda and for the other lead role, Elphaba, the part that went to Cynthia Erivo. She did so, she said, because she was “hearing really mixed things from people” and figured they didn’t know which part she’d be better for vocally.
But Chu tells Entertainment Weekly, “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."”
During her first audition she was asked to sing for both roles, and Chu didn’t stop her.
“We just let her do it,” he says. “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 a 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?"”
Eventually, they both got on the same page. But as for why the miscommunication happened in the first place, apparently the casting directors assumed Ariana wanted to be considered for Elphaba because on NBC’s 15th anniversary Wicked TV special a few years ago, she sang Elphaba’s “The Wizard and I.”
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