After Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo landed the starring roles in the film adaptation of Wicked, Idina Menzel, aka the original Elphaba, offered her thoughts.
The choice for the two leads in the forthcoming film adaptation of Wicked appears to be a popular one.
After Universal Pictures confirmed that the movie based on the hit stage musical would star Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, actress Idina Menzel—who won a Tony Award for playing Elphaba on Broadway—took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the casting.
"Congrats to two amazing women," the 50-year-old Frozen star wrote. "May it change your lives for the better forever and ever as it has for us. So much love. @cynthiaerivo @arianagrande."
During a 2019 interview with Variety, Idina made it clear she hadn't forgotten what a thrill it would be to star in the Wicked film, which has been in development for years and had numerous stars lobby for its lead roles. The Broadway show opened back in June 2003, with Idina starring opposite Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda.
"I still think that I should be Elphaba, and I should just show up, slap that green makeup on me and get some CGI and Benjamin Button the s--t out of that," Idina said with a laugh at the time. She went on to reference Ariana's known interest in the film by lightheartedly adding, "I mean, I love you, Ariana, but I still am relevant here."
For his part, Wicked film director Jon M. Chu gushed about Ariana, 28, and Cynthia, 34, on social media and shared screenshots of the two stars' faces from when they each learned they had landed the gig.
"These two witches!!" Jon wrote. "The emotional moment I got to tell @cynthiaerivo and @arianagrande that they were our Elphaba and Galinda in the @WickedMovie for @unistudios. wait until you see what they bring!! It is other worldly. Ahhhhh!!!"
For her part, Ariana also shared a screenshot to Instagram showing her initial reaction to the news. She added the caption, "thank goodness," which happens to be the title of a song from the show.
(E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)