The ‘Wicked’ Movie Couldn’t Have Cast a More Perfect Elphaba

The first trailer for Wicked Part One—the first installment in what is going to be a duology helmed by Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu—was finally released on February 12, 2024, allowing us all to catch a glimpse into the world of Oz and the cast of characters inhabiting it.

Wicked is the movie adaptation of the blockbuster Broadway musical of the same name, which was based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by American author Gregory Maguire. (Which was itself based on the work of L. Frank Baum.) The story follows our main character Elphaba Thropp from her teenage years to her late thirties, as she goes from a hopeful and talented student at the Shiz University—where she makes the most unlikely friend, popular and cheerful Glinda Upland, who would become the Good Witch of the South—to the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. 

Set some forty years before Dorothy and Toto are dropped into Oz by a tornado, Wicked takes L. Frank Baum’s iconic green-skinned villain—immortalized into pop culture by Margaret Hamilton’s portrayal in the 1939 movie musical The Wizard of Oz—and makes her the protagonist of a story that reflects on whether people are born wicked or are made so by the society around them and the all-powerful tool of propaganda. 

The role of Elphaba was originated on Broadway by Idina Menzel, and has been played by several other actresses both on Broadway and in productions around the world. Now she has yet another new face.

Meet the Wicked movie’s phenomenal Elphaba

Donning the clothes and green paint of Elphaba in the Wicked movie will be British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo—Tony Award and Grammy Award winner for her run as Celie in the Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017.

Audiences may also recognize Erivo from her impressive on-screen performances in movies and TV shows including Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale, and The Outsider. She was nominated for Academy Awards as Best Actress and Best Original Song for her work on the 2019 movie Harriet, as well as for an Emmy Award for her role as Aretha Franklin in the 2021 series Genius: Aretha.

She was announced as Elphaba in November of 2021, together with her Glinda, who is going to be played by singer Ariana Grande. Longtime fans of the musical had their doubts about both Erivo and Grande’s ages since Elphaba and Glinda are meant to be teenagers when they first meet at Shiz while both actresses are in their thirties—then again, casting fully grown people to play teenagers is nothing new in Hollywood.

What’s certain is that we can expect an incredible vocal performance from Erivo, considering it’s impossible not to be moved to tears whenever she opens her mouth to sing. I don’t think I’m the only one to say that I can’t wait to hear her take on “Defying Gravity,” especially if that final riff we briefly got to hear in the trailer is anything to go by.

(featured image: Universal)