‘Wicked’: Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Keep CinemaCon Aglow With Tulip-Lit Caesars Colosseum

Nancy Tartaglione and Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Universal ended its CinemaCon presentation with Wicked last year, and they continued to beat the drum for director Jon M. Chu’s feature take of the Broadway musical with a colorful spectacle. Every attendee at Caesars Colosseum was given a faux tulip that lit up in varying colors, in particular pink and green, creating a great visual before Jeff Goldblum aka the Wizard took the stage to introduce Chu and producer Marc Platt.

Chu regaled: “I was a Silicon Valley kid, and as a matter of luck, I was there when Wicked was workshopped in San Francisco. I’ll never forget it; it imprinted on me permanently.”

More from Deadline

He was joined by Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Bailey. Yeoh praised Chu for casting her in roles in which the filmmaker “knows her so well.”

But the big surprise came when the witches themselves, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, stepped on stage.

Grande knew after seeing the live musical that she had to play Glinda.

The new footage shows how Erivo’s Elphaba and Grande’s Glinda are forced to be roommates at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. A profound bond is formed despite Glinda being something of a queen bee; alas it is she who gives Elphaba her black witch hat. Glinda and the other schoolmates marvel at Elphaba’s ability to perform magic, but even she doesn’t know how she’s doing it. Yeoh’s headmistress tells her, “You’re the one the wizard has been waiting for.”

Elphaba is invited to meet the wizard, and Glinda is in tow. “You have no real power,” Elphaba tells Goldblum’s wizard. “That’s why I need you,” he answers. Elphaba is given the broom, and headmistress promptly declares her an enemy. Elphaba is chased and escapes, flying on her broom out a window. “I’m not afraid,” she says. “It’s the wizard who should be afraid!”

Wicked, the first chapter of a two-part immersive, cultural celebration, releases domestically on November 27 this year, with Wicked Part Two scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 26, 2025.

The big-screen adaptation of the stage musical tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz, based on the bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire, originally based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, previously adapted into MGM’s classic 1939 film of the same name.

Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, which examines how the green-skinned Elphaba (Erivo) became the Wicked Witch of the West, as well as the sorceress Glinda’s (Grande) trajectory to becoming known as the Good Witch.

The big-screen adaptation was written by Winne Holzman, who penned the long-running stage production, and Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldbum, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater also star.

Platt produces through his Universal-based Marc Platt Productions, alongside David Stone.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.