Wicked's Jon M Chu talks 'very special' Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth cameos
The filmmaker speaks to Yahoo UK about his delight at having the originators of Elphaba and Glinda on Broadway involved in the movie adaptation.
It is arguable that Wicked would not have become the global phenomenon it is today without the work of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, and the performances they delivered together on Broadway as Elphaba and Glinda.
As the originators of the characters on stage it was important for their work to be honoured on the film adaptation, which is why they get their own cameo in the film. Director Jon M Chu shares with Yahoo UK how "very special" it was for the pair to be involved in the movie. Menzel and Chenoweth play Emerald City superstars, who perform a song together about the origins of The Wizard of Oz while Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's Elphaba and Glinda watch them in awe.
"They couldn't be more kind and gracious," Chu says of the pair. "I mean, [I was] getting texts from them and kind messages throughout even before. We just wanted to find the right thing to put them in and Steven Schwartz had this concept of including them in this section that we needed to describe how The Wizard got there, and what the Grimorie was.
"It's sort of an informational scene anyway, but to give it life we had these two and [to] make them the most famous actors in in Emerald City was just so fun and delicious that it was hard, it was too tempting not to do."
It's a sweet, funny moment that allows the pair to show the vocal range that made them such a success on Broadway during their original run together. But secrecy was of utmost importance, with Chu revealing: "They came for one night, we snuck them in in the middle of the night. Did it from two in the morning to six in the morning when the sun rose."
In the scene Menzel has a moment with Erivo while Chenoweth delights in a comedic bit with Grande, embodying what makes their characters so special. It's a subtle nod that celebrates the Broadway stars and acts as a visual passing of the torch to Erivo and Grande.
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It was honouring their work that was most important, Chu explains: "It was beautiful, and it felt very healing for them to look around, I think, and be like, 'look at what we've affected'.
"And we got to say to them, me and the cast, that we wanted to do this so that they could experience Wicked for the first time, and know what it felt like when we met Glinda and Elphaba for the first time and how it impacted us so well. So it was a very full circle."
Wicked Part One is in UK cinemas from Friday, 22 November.
