Embed from Getty Images
Not only have Kristin Chenoweth — original Broadway Glinda — and Ariana Grande — film adaptation Glinda — known each other for 20 years, but they met backstage AT Wicked in 2003. Ariana was 10 and still vividly remembers visiting Kristin’s dressing room, cleaning up the wee wee accident made by Kristin’s dog Madeline Kahn Chenoweth, and being given a small wand by the good witch. And then she went on to play the role in the movie. That’s wild! (There’s another word for it too, ahem.) Anyway, Kristin has a new sponsorship deal with Adobe, and in promoting that she also talked about how exciting it’s been to watch Ariana on the yellow brick road to bringing Glinda to the big screen. And because Kristin is hilarious and should totally host an episode of SNL like she dreams of doing, Kristin described the giddy chatter she and Ariana engage in thusly: “We both talk like we’re dolphins.”
“I won’t reveal too much, but we were so emotional,” Chenoweth, 57, recalls as she exclusively sits down with Parade to discuss her recent partnership with Adobe Acrobat Studio.
“We both talk like we’re dolphins, like we’ve lost our minds,” Chenoweth explains, laughing. “I have other people I know who auditioned that I love very much, but when it’s her… I went through, ‘I got the audition,’ ‘I got the callback,’ ‘I’m going back again.’ When it was the ‘yes,’ we lost our minds, and that was during COVID. I was just so happy, and I had to keep it a secret. I didn’t tell a soul, not a soul.”
Chenoweth has nothing but praise for Grande, who will return as Glinda the Good when the second part of Wicked hits movie theaters Nov. 21.
“It could have gone either way, right?” she says of the musical adaptation, which received mostly positive reviews for its first part, including its performances from Grande and costar Cynthia Erivo. “Jon Chu was so the right director for this.”
When Chenoweth and former Wicked costar Idina Menzel were on set to film their cameo in the movie’s first part, they couldn’t believe how touching it was to see Erivo and Grande take over the roles of Elphaba and Glinda.
“We’re looking at the girls doing the film, and I looked at [Idina], and I said, ‘This is surreal, right?’ She was thinking the same thing,” Chenoweth explains. “We just grabbed each other’s hands, watched them do their thing, and it was hard to explain, but it was a beautiful moment. It was our turn to pass the proverbial wand and broom on, and they were both ready. But to watch them giggling and just living in the parts, it was very moving.”
As for Wicked: For Good, Chenoweth says she cannot confirm nor deny whether she’s heard the new music written by composer Stephen Schwartz, whom she is also working alongside on her upcoming Broadway musical The Queen of Versailles.
Oh please, of course Kristin has heard the new Wicked music!! That’s an easy yes simply because of her history with the show, and the fact that Kristin is currently working with Stephen Schwartz seals the deal. They’re gunning for a Best Original Song Oscar, like the way Kander & Ebb wrote “I Move On” for the film adaptation of Chicago. (Though KPop Demon Hunter’s “Golden” may give Wicked’s new tune a run for its money, but that’s another story…) Kristin is so gracious and loving with Ariana; of course Kristin knew she wasn’t going to play Glinda in the film, so why bother doing an All About Eve on Ariana, right? As I’ve said before, I’m really looking forward to Ariana performing “Thank Goodness” in the second film. That song has a lot of delicate emotional arcs that Kristin always blew me away with on the Broadway cast recording. And speaking of, we are finally inching to the actual premiere of The Queen of Versailles, a musical it feels like Kristin has been hyping for ages. Previews begin October 8!
Lastly, come on Lorne Michaels, let Kristin host! She’s just given you a solid sketch: a Glinda-off with Ariana in which they speak dolphin! Hell, they could even bring in Kelly Ripa! (IYKYK)
Kristin and Ariana in 2016:
Kristin in 2018:
Photos credit: Getty, Backgrid, John Nacion/startraksphoto.com