With two of the most anticipated movie cameos of the year, Jon M. Chu had his work cut out for him.
The Wicked director recently recounted how he conceived an appearance for the original Broadway musical’s stars Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth during the song ‘One Short Day’, performed with their successors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
“It was a tightrope that we all had to talk about a lot, with Stephen [Schwartz] and Winnie [Holzman] as well, where’s the best place,” Chu told CinemaBlend. “And we had them as cameo roles at some point, like, ‘maybe they’re Galinda’s parents’ or ‘maybe they’re this or that.’ And those were all fine and good, but every time we thought of it more, it didn’t feel — they’re at the top of their game right now. They’re at the top of their game right now. They’re not like some people who don’t do it there. [If] they are there, you want them to do their thing, and I always felt like as a fan myself, if I see them in this movie, I’m going to want them to do their thing.
The director explained that he envisioned a “Wizomania” type of ride when the two women arrive in Oz, inspired by the Disney ride ‘It’s a Small World’, “where you get into a boat and it takes you through the history of Oz.”
“And it was going to be a performance that happens around them and all this stuff and then sends you back to the Wizard’s palace,” he said. “So, we had that, because we needed to set up what the show didn’t have too much about, that we had to do, which was set up the Grimmerie, why the Wizard was here, what the prophecy is — we had a lot of information to give.”
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked (2024) (Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Universal Pictures
Chu continued, “And it was during those conversations that Stephen and I were talking, and I suggested, ‘We have this section anyway, that’s sort of outside of the narrative that we need to give. Maybe that’s where you do it, so you can add a little sugar to the information.’ And he was like, ‘Give me one night.’ And he rewrote the whole thing as a performance for these girls. It was so fun, that’s where it felt like this is a great moment of sort of a send-off.”
Menzel and Chenoweth originated the roles of Elphaba and Galinda when Wicked premiered on Broadway in 2003, earning the former a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, for which her co-star was also nominated.