Ariana Grande brings together actresses who’ve played Glinda for ‘Wicked’ screening

29 October, 2024

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo brought together a group of actresses who have played their characters Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway for a special screening of the Wicked film.

The popular musical has been running on Broadway since 2003 and remains one of its most successful shows of all time. According to Playbill, as of last year, there have been 46 Elphabas and 37 Glindas in the show’s run.

Among the actresses appearing at the screening was Kirstin Chenoweth, who was the first actress to play Glinda on Broadway. The current Broadway cast was also in attendance.

Check out the photos below:

Wicked is set to be released in UK and US cinemas on November 22. Given it is coming out on the same day as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, some fans have suggested the double-header could be a sequel to last summer’s ‘Barbenheimer’, under the name ‘Glicked’. The first trailer was released last month.

The film had initially been slated for a November 27 release, but this was moved forward five days to avoid a family blockbuster clash with Moana 2.

In other news, a fan edit of the film’s poster that Erivo said “degrades” her has been the subject of controversy.

The film’s original poster shows Erivo as Elphaba staring into the camera while Grande as Glinda whispers in her ear. The fan edit was closer to the original Broadway poster in which Elphaba’s eyes are not visible but hidden under the brim of her hat.

“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful Ai of us fighting, equal to people posing the question ‘is your ***** green’,” Erivo wrote in an Instagram story.

In response, the fan behind the edited poster removed it from their Twitter/X page, before choosing to repost it along with a statement.

“The last few days have been wild & have helped me realise that the initial reaction was largely overblown,” they began. “This is, and always was, an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster, and there’s nothing wrong with that!

“While I deleted initially as I felt it was the right thing to do, fan posters have been around for as long as movies have existed,” they continued. “I never meant to cause any harm and the poster is just a homage to the original broadway poster, just like the movie’s recreation is.”

Grande backed up Erivo, telling Variety the situation was “complicated”.

“I find AI so conflicting and troublesome sometimes, but I think it’s just kind of such a massive adjustment period. This is something that is so much bigger than us, and the fans are gonna have fun and make their edits.”

The creator has confirmed that no AI was used in the edit.

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