'Wicked' Star Cynthia Erivo Set To Play Elphaba In New Movie Version

"The Color Purple" actress Cynthia Erivo has been cast to play the lead role of Elphaba in Universal Pictures' "Wicked" musical while singer Ariana Grande will play Glinda.

Jon M. Chu, known for his movie "In the Heights," will be directing this movie. The November 4th announcement about Erivo and Grande's casting brought in more than its fair share of excitement because these two entertainers are known for their god-level vocal cords.

Grande is a popular household name because of her role as a Disney star before becoming a singer, but Erivo is one character not everyone knows about.

The actress made her grand entrance into fame when she appeared in "The Color Purple" and threw everyone off because of her acting and singing mastery.

She played Celie in the movie, and her performance awarded her a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy, all for the same role. So we're more than pleased that she'll be Elphaba in "Wicked."

Along with her Tony, Grammy, and Emmy awards, Erivo has also gotten two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, and a Screen Actors Award Guild. She began acting in 2011 and rose to fame for her debut part in the Broadway revival of "The Color Purple."

"The Color Purple" brought her massive success, but it was her only musical on Broadway. Although she wasn't on "Wicked" on Broadway, her credits and awards in her only Broadway musical make her more than eligible for the role of Elphaba.

Her success in "The Color Purple" also helped her kick start her career in television shows and films.

Her other film credits include "Widows," "Bad Times at the El Royals," "Harriet," and her first British series is titled "Chewing Gum."

The actress acted in "The Outsider," a crime drama miniseries in 2020 before her role as Aretha Franklin in "Genius: Aretha," which earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology series or movie.

Although "The Color Purple" was Erivo's only Broadway musical, she also performed some songs from "Wicked."

In August 2021, she presented one of Glinda's songs called "I Couldn't Be Happier" during the PBS' "Wicked in Concert" broadcast while Grande performed an Elphaba song titled "The Wizard and I" in 2019 at the 15th-anniversary concert of "Wicked."

"I Could Be Happier" is a song Glinda sang about her dreams, and it was worth the price for them to come through. Erivo performed the song with an orchestra which effectively showed the regret surrounding Glinda's choice.

Although there's no video of Erivo singing any other "Wicked" song, fans are eager to hear the actress sing the most iconic song of the musical, "Defying Gravity."

The role of Elphaba is seen as one of the hardest roles to play on Broadway mainly because her songs are so challenging; only a singer worth her salt can play the role properly. Idina Menzel, the original cast of Elphaba, won a Tony for her performance in the Broadway musical.

When the "Frozen" Star heard about the casting choices, she was certainly overjoyed for the two ladies.

She tweeted, "Congrats to two amazing women. May it change your lives for the better forever and ever as it has for us. So much love."

If you're still unsure of Erivo's eligibility for the role of Elphaba, then feel free to watch her performances like "I'm Here" from her Broadway show "The Color Purple" and be wowed anew.

Although Chu, the movie's director, officially announced the people cast as Elphaba and Glinda on November 4, 2021, Grande and Erivo took to Instagram on Thursday evening to announce it their own way.

Grande sent a pink and green floral arrangement that symbolized Glinda and Elphaba's colors to the award-winning actress, Erivo.

In the arrangement, there was a note that read, "Dear Cynthia, honored doesn't even begin to cover it. I cannot wait to hug you. See you in Oz."

Erivo, on her part, made an Instagram post of a video call with the pop star and director captioned, "Pink goes good with green," and shared a photo of the note she sent.

Grande also shared screenshots of the video call on her Instagram page captioned "Thank goodness," along with the picture of the flowers and card that Erivo sent to her. The card read, "'Pink goes with green' Congratulations Miss A, the part was made for you, I look forward to sharing this musical journey with you."