For years, fans have begged, nay, pleaded for the beloved book-turned-stage play Wicked to be imagined into a film. Someone must have found an IRL witch or wizard because finally, the Wicked film is here — and praise Oz, it’s really fkn good.
The latest iteration stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba Thropp and Galinda ‘Glinda’ Upland in one of the best casting triumphs of the decade. The talented vocalists are joined by Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey as the empty-headed, pretty prince Fiyero Tigelaar and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz himself. Rising theatre star Ethan Slater plays the lovable munchkin Boq and up-and-coming talent Marissa Bode plays Elphaba’s sister Nessarose. Plus Michelle Yeow, Peter Dinklage and Bowen Yang in supporting roles.
To celebrate the film, the stellar cast has come to the land of Oz Aus for the world premiere before they stop in London and Los Angeles ahead of the official release on November 21. Until then, I’m sworn to secrecy about the film itself. Thankfully, I had a chat with the cast while they were Down Under, and they spilt all the tea about what it was like behind the scenes on director Jon M. Chu‘s elaborate set.
The Wicked cast all sang live on set
In the lead-up to the release, Jon M. Chu revealed that the cast was singing live on set day in, and day out. Although that’s super standard practice for a stage show, that’s not the norm for musical film adaptations. For Ariana and Cynthia, singing live on set was “their favourite thing to do”. Not only because they got to pay homage to the “Broadway girlies” who performed the show night after night, but because it helped to create a set full of wonder, playfulness, joy and vulnerability.
“It was definitely enchanting,” Ariana says.
“It was just really kind and joyful and playful and crazy and fun and wonderful,” Cynthia adds.
“Even on the days when we were tearful, we still felt very connected. There was always a constant state of connectivity going through the set full of kindness and honesty every step of the way.”
“And honesty,” Ariana chimes in. “Everything felt so, so, so truthful every step of the way. I’m so grateful that how it feels to watch is how it feels to make. That’s a good thing.”
However, not everyone felt instantly comfortable piping up in front of the entire cast and crew right off the bat.
“I don’t know about you,” Marissa Bode says, gesturing to Ethan Slater. “But for me personally, it was very intimidating.”
“Thankfully they put me in incredible hands with the wonderful music department. I had a ton of amazing vocal training and by the end of it, I was quite proud of my journey and where I ended up vocally. Being up with so many talented vocalists like Cynthia, Ari and Ethan is just so genuinely cool.”
Although it could be intimidating, Ethan believed that the live singing created the perfect level of openness needed to make the story feel authentic.
“I do think that singing live and the vulnerability that comes with that really helps the performances,” he says. “It just makes you feel like you’re really in the space and making decisions together. It really added to the experience.”
The set was completely accessible
For 24-year-old Marissa, playing the character of Nessarose is a huge deal. After all, Wicked is one of the first entries on her IMDb page. More importantly, though, she says it “feels incredible” to be the first authentic wheelchair user to play the role of Nessarose, a character who uses a wheelchair in the first act of Wicked.
“Just being in such good hands as the whole team of Wicked and the care they took making sure everything was accessible on set, was incredible,” she says.
“I think it’s great to set a precedent for other projects to come and other casting, whoever is out there, casting for projects to come as well.
“It’s just amazing for many other disabled people out there to feel seen because having someone who is authentically like them, for them to have that, I think that’s incredibly important. There wasn’t a lot of that, or there hasn’t been a whole lot of that.
“Although there’s a lot of progress, there hasn’t been as much as I think there should be, personally.”
The IRL set creation made it easy for the cast to feel the whimsey
“Basically all the sets were practically built. There was very little green screen going on,” Marissa explains. “To be there in such an immersive set made everything so much more magical and real.”
Sometimes, it was easy for the cast to get wrapped up in the Shiz of it all, too.
“When we were in Professor Dillerman’s (Peter Dinklage) classroom, it felt like we were in an actual classroom. So we couldn’t help joke around like students and we had a great time,” Ethan shares.
“The energy was just so playful, passionate and we enjoyed what we were doing. So it made everything outrageously fun and dumb… in a good way.”
Sometimes there was a bit of guesswork involved
Although the final sets were larger than life, Oz certainly wasn’t built in a day. As a result, the cast had to use their imagination when they first started learning their complex choreography. Thankfully, the choreography team did everything they could to help the cast get started.
“There was this massive warehouse and one side was the library mock-up. Chris Scott, the choreographer, had created this amazing space where you could play. And that’s where the first genesis of the characterisations were born,” Jonathan explains.
Unfortunately for Jonathan, whose big musical number “Dancing Through Life” involved a set which included a “tornado wheel”. As it wasn’t ready when he started rehearsing for the role, he had to practice on a non-moving mock-up.
“They had this sort of wooden version of the tornado wheel, but basically we had books to practice with,” he says. “But the tornado wheel was a very exciting feat of engineering.”
You can see the tricky little tornado wheel in the trailer below.
Ariana and Cynthia spent days researching their roles
There’s nothing more intimidating than taking on characters already so beloved by fans. So, in an effort to simultaneously honour their characters and make them their own, Ariana and Cynthia dedicated a considerable amount of time to thoroughly researching their characters. Thankfully, the research paid off with both characters feeling so unique to the performers whilst grounded in their Wicked heritage.
“I think it comes from trying to be as truthful as possible,” Cynthia explains.
“What’s written, what’s given to us, is already gold. So you dig into that and try to be as truthful as you can. You know what’s come before and you’re also paying homage to what’s what’s been before. You just take little things that make sense for the truth of who you are playing, and hopefully, it reads as well as you wanted it to.”
For Ariana, the deep dive into her character and the wonderful world of Oz gave her permission to truly play with her characterisation of Galinda ‘Glinda’ Upland.
“I think doing as much homework beforehand to know the world as well as possible, reading the books and digging into Oz as a bigger picture in that way, really just allowed for our time on set to be just about truth and play because we knew what we needed to know. It’s already in there,” Ariana reflects.
“Its sift into the DNA,” Cynthia adds.
“Yeah, so we get to bring ourselves to the material,” agrees Ariana.
Jeff Goldblum & Jonathan Bailey joined the set later than the others
From watching Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey together, it’s surprising to discover that they didn’t spend a lot of time on set together. In fact, they’d often miss each other on filming days.
“We both joined the shoot quite late, a month or so in,” Jonathan explains. “We were like ships in the night. I would come an hour after [Jeff] finished rehearsing.”
Judging by the immaculate vibes these two share, it seems that they’re now thick as thieves on the Wicked press tour.
Well, there you have it. Wicked will be out in cinemas Australia-wide on November 21 but in the meantime, I can vouch that it really does live up to the hype. And I’m not just saying that because I was utterly charmed by the cast. I promise it’s what we’ve all been waiting for!
