When the Broadway Witches Watched ‘Wicked’

The world’s biggest game of Elphaba roulette unfolded in New York on Monday night, as scores of current and former stars of Wicked on Broadway gathered for a special screening of Jon M. Chu’s upcoming big-screen adaptation of the beloved musical. Former Broadway Elphabas including Mary Kate Morrisey, Alyssa Fox, Jenny DiNoia, Talia Suskauer, Caroline Bowman, and Dee Roscioli, posed together for photos, standing largely head and shoulders over a group of blonde, petite former Glindas like Brittney Johnson, Amanda Jane Cooper, Alli Mauzey, Alexandra Socha, Carrie St. Louis, Ginna Claire Mason, McKenzie Kurtz, and Katie Rose Clarke. All the divas were giggling with glee to reunite with their witchy sisters, and welcome Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande—who play the musical’s respective leads in Chu’s film—into the fold.

“We went through something that you only understand when you have done the role,” said Johnson, who made history as the first Black woman to play Glinda on Broadway when she stepped into the role full time in 2022. “Every single one of these ladies played the part differently,” she added. “That empowered me to not feel that I somehow had to fit some mold. Everybody’s different, and so I got to use that as my superpower too.”

All the witches agreed that playing either character eight times a week requires something akin to superhuman-like abilities. “ ‘The Wizard and I’ is so tough, because you’re singing a 11 o’clock number within the first 20 minutes of the show. And you have two more 11 o’clock numbers to go,” Morrissey told me. “The show is like a train, and you have to hop on or you’ll get run over. But a lot of times, I feel like the person who’s playing Elphaba has to drive the train.”

For Socha, who currently stars opposite Morrisey as Glinda, the trickiest moment is kicking the show off. “I feel massive responsibility with the opening number of the show,” she said. “I feel like it starts the train before it gets handed over to Elphaba.”

Clark, who’s played Glinda multiple times since 2007 and recently finished playing Beth in the Tony-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, agreed with Socha, but noted a certain secret tradition that gives Glindas confidence before traveling by bubble.

“All the Glindas, they leave a note for the next Glinda,” said Clarke. “Hanging on the curtain in front of you when you’re standing in this tiny little tight space that you have as Glinda. Like, a note of congratulations and love from the Glinda that you’re replacing. It’s pretty special.”

“The Glinda Club,” chimed in Mauzey, a recent Tony-nominee for Kimberly Akimbo, who first played Glinda on Broadway in 2008. “I’m pretty sure I got one from you at some point, and vice versa,” Clark told her.

While Clark and Mauzey have a long and storied history with Wicked, it’s DiNoia who’s enjoyed the longest consistent tenure with the show. She’s played Elphaba in seven different companies, spanning four countries since joining Wicked as a dancer/swing in Chicago in 2006. “I’ve been on for 18 years, almost,” she said. “I’m pretty sure that you are the Elphaba that has played it in the most places,” noted Fox, who played Elphaba on Broadway during its 20th anniversary and also lends some vocals to the film. “In the most places, for the longest amount of time,” said Dinoia.

“Wicked will never leave you,” said Mauzey, “It’s a huge part of my story, and I’m so grateful for it. It’s totally shaped who I am as an actress and as a person.”

When Erivo and Grande arrived, they were greeted with a sorority’s worth of squeals from their new sisters. “This is the best day of my life,” Grande said as she and her costar ran over to meet all of the witches that came before them. The crowd may have been even more reverent of Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the role of Glinda on Broadway; when she entered, it was clear that mother had arrived.

Chenoweth’s partner in crime, Idina Menzel—who won the Tony for leading actress in a musical for creating the role of Elphaba—was unfortunately unable to attend the screening. But she was present in spirit. “Wait, wait,” said Chenoweth, as she posed for a photo with the rest of the witches. “Can we make a video for Idina?” All the witches obliged, belting out, “We love you, Idina!” “She’ll love that,” Chenoweth said.

“I want her to know that just because she can’t be here, we’re not thinking about her,” Chenoweth told VF. “That’s my partner. We’re very different, but we love each other.”

It’s clear that Chenoweth is still a bit overwhelmed by the universe she created with Menzel. “People always talk about what their legacy is, how they want to be remembered,” she said. “That’s all great. I love that word. But what I really like is this moment right now, because it’s Ariana and Cynthia’s night.” She took a look at the actresses in the room. “We’ve all done it on Broadway, and I got to create it. But it took everyone, all of the girls, all the directors, producers. It took everybody to make this happen.”

The night was made even more special for Chenoweth by seeing Grande, whom she first met as a Broadway child star with big dreams of playing Glinda one day, following in her footsteps. “I’m probably going to get emotional tonight, because of the whole thing with Ariana,” she said. “When she got the audition, I said, ‘Which part?’ And she said, ‘Glinda.’ We both cried. Now we skip to this night, where I get to see it. I’m so excited.”

Surprisingly, Chenoweth had yet to see the film, though she was brimming with anticipation. “I’m about to have kittens,” she said. “I’m going to give birth to kittens. Kittens are coming out of my vagina.”

Just like that, it was time for all fourteen of the Elphabas and Glindas to make their way to the Directors Guild Theater for the screening. There, they were joined by original cast members Norbert Leo Butz, who played handsome prince Fiyero, and Christopher Fitzgerald, who played Boq, sitting in the same row, with composer Stephen Schwartz Wicked and novelist Gregory Maguire not far away. “This is our family, our community, and tonight we marry in a whole other community of Wicked storytellers,” said Wicked producer Marc Platt, who was the producing force behind both the Broadway production and the film. “Everybody here is an author of what you’re going to see tonight, and I mean that very much.”

He handed the reins to director Jon M. Chu, who reminisced about his first time seeing the stage version of Wicked during its out of town tryout in San Francisco. Taking Wicked from stage to screen has the anxiety dream of my lifetime,” he joked.

Soon, it was time for the women of the hour—Grande, Erivo, and Chenoweth to take the stage. “I’m just glad that in my lifetime, we have a movie,” quipped Chenoweth. “I’m glad I’m alive to see it.”

A visibly emotional Grande and Erivo tried to sum up what this moment meant to them. “We’re so grateful to be a part of your Ozian family, to continue the legacy that you all created,” Grande said to the crowd. She turned to Chenoweth, whom she sat beside for large swaths of the film. “This is a love letter to you, to Idina, to every Glinda and Elphaba in this room. We love you all so much.”

“I’m having the most out-of-body experience I could possibly have to be standing in front of my theater family on screen,” said Erivo. “You’ve made so many people happy. I really, really hope that we can make you happy too.”

Although she wasn’t physically present, Menzel did appear in a video message played before the film—wearing an appropriately green blouse. Menzel expressed her regret for not being able to make the screening while showering love on the film, her Wicked family, and her “sister” Kristin. She ended her remarks with a message familiar with anyone who’s had to virtually participate in an in-person event. “I don’t know why my face has to be this big,” she said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Before the film began, executive producer Platt took time to pay respect to members of the Wicked family that had passed away, including set designer Eugene Lee and orchestrator William David “Billy” Brohn. In a touching tribute, he also dedicated the screening to Tony-winning Gavin Creel, who played Boq in the first ever readings of Wicked and died on September 30th of a rare form of cancer at the age of 48. “He kept telling me that he really was pushing himself to November because he wanted to see this movie, and because Wicked—what you all did in this community and what the show is about—meant so much to him,” Platt shared. “And so in the middle of September, I hopped on a plane with a computer and I took what was an unfinished film to Gavin. And he had two and a half hours of smiles and delight.”

Chenoweth gave Grande a standing ovation and a warm embrace after her tour de force rendition of Glinda’s signature number, “Popular.” Even the Elphabas felt their hearts melt: “It’s really amazing,” said Suskauer, who recently played the role on Broadway, after the screening. “It’s so overwhelming.”

Bowman, currently a standby for Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, said that the film took her back to a time before she starred in Wicked. “I didn’t even put myself in it really,” she said. “It made me feel like a kid again.” And Fox gave the film, perhaps, the highest compliment a former Broadway witch could give: “They did it justice.”