Those Wicked cameos surprised fans of the original Broadway musical with a show-stopping moment that was more than blink and you’ll miss it. If like us, you’re OG cast die-hards, it was more like a “blink away all the tears” experience if you happened to catch the film over its opening weekend.
Wicked director Jon M. Chu revealed how he was able to produce a magic trick like no other: sneak in original Broadway Elphaba Idina Menzel (Frozen) and Galinda Kristin Chenoweth (Descendants) to feature in an extended and updated version of “One Short Day,” the song in which the witch besties (played in the movie by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, respectively) arrive in the Emerald City.
“The question for us was, how, and how much are they willing to do in it, and how much can the story itself handle it? Because they’re such iconic people and especially to these roles,” Chu told the Hollywood Reporter. In his movie, Menzel and Chenoweth appear as troupe actresses portraying “the wise ones” of Oz who musically perform the history of the Grimmerie book of magic and how the Wizard came into the possession of such a powerful artifact.
“It was like a mania. [We said], ‘Let’s make them the biggest stars of Oz. Let’s make them this iconic legends of Oz on the stage show, and let them present the history of Oz. They would be the wise women of Oz.’ It just seemed to make sense. And [composer] Steven Schwartz—it might have actually come from him from my memory—said, ‘I know exactly how to do it’ because we needed some information about the story of the history of Oz, plus it would be them, so it would be more meaningful.”
Chu recounted how they shot under the cover of a rainy night in London, “the moment they sang the songs and got their iconic moments in that, it was beautiful. And what was cool about the day was, I think it was really healing for everybody. … I said, ‘This is in honor of you. This whole us making this movie is an honor of you because we want you to experience what we got to experience when we first saw it, when I went to the theater before it went into Broadway, what it felt like to watch Elphaba and Glinda steal our hearts, you have never got to experience that. And now we get to do that for you.’”
It was moving for Wicked‘s new stars to witness. “Ari is crying the whole time. Cynthia was crying the whole time. There was a lot of love on that set that day. And so I’m so grateful for them to come out there. I was not involved with the deal-making. I have no idea what it took to get them there. All I knew is they were down and willing. We just had one day to do it.” And it was worth the massively kept secret, I openly wept at their appearance and cheered when Menzel did her signature “Defying Gravity” belt and Chenoweth her Glinda high notes.
Winnie Holzman, the musical’s book writer, also appears in the scene as an Emerald City Ozian resident—and Stephen Schwartz plays the announcer guard who tells Glinda and Elphie, “The Wizard will see you now!”
Wicked Part One is now playing in theaters. Part Two arrives November 21, 2025.
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