Cynthia Erivo on ‘Wicked’ Success, Special Bond With Ariana Grande, and Why Green Stands for “Every Person Who Feels Othered”
Cynthia Erivo has much to celebrate, including the box office records and critical success of Wicked, but on Friday also shared insight into how she works, including her special relationship with Ariana Grande, and spoke out against the cyberbullying against her co-star. Appearing at an “In Conversation With” session at the Red Sea International Film Festival in the old town Al-Balad in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the English star called the reaction to the movie “a really wonderful experience to watch,” adding that nobody could have predicted the huge success even though “we all knew it was really, really special.”
After she arrived on stage to a rousing ovation and “Cynthia!” chants from fans in the audience, she said that she went into Wicked as a big believer. “I was aware of how special it was, and I was a fan at the beginning as well. So to see it translate this way onto film is a really wonderful experience to watch happen because sometimes the adaptations don’t necessarily work when you take something off stage to screen, but to watch it happen in this way, to watch people really connect with it is really special.”
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About how her relationship with Grande developed, she shared: “We didn’t audition together. We met after the roles, and we spent some time together just before we started rehearsals. And within all that, we sort of decided between each other that we were going to make sure we protected each other, that we were kind to one another, that we were going to work with each other in honesty and build a relationship from that.”
That meant that “we were very safe to play and to do the roles as we needed them,” Erivo explained. “We provided each other with the space and the kindness and generosity that was necessary to play these kinds of roles. And what’s broken through that is the knowledge that our voices worked very well” together.
The star also discussed the intimacy of singing together. “When you get to do something like that, it means there is a real understanding of how the other person works, and to sing with another person is a very intimate thing,” she said.
“Cyberbullying is quite dangerous,” Erivo shared when asked about how Grande faced social media bullying. “It’s easy to be behind a computer and type words about a person you don’t know.” Her suggestion for people to stand up against such behavior: “The more we can (do to) protect ourselves…(and) a person who is going through that is really to try and counterpoint whatever is coming at that person…. Be the voice that says the positive.”
Asked about her approach to her character, the Wicked Witch, Erivo said, “I have that beautiful challenge of humanizing her.” And Erivo shared that the witch’s characteristic color green is also her favorite color in real life. For the happy audience, her interviewer noted that green is also the color of Saudi Arabia.
Green in the film stands for an experience that she shared she knows as a Black woman. “Green, I think, stands for every person who feels othered,” the star said.
As a Black woman, she didn’t want to take her personal experience and feelings out of the portrayal, though, she highlighted. “What I wanted to do was imbue this character with the person underneath,” Erivo explained. “I think it was important to have that as a layer. I was lucky enough to have a director who’s willing to let me tell that story also.”
Wicked: Part Two, set to hit theaters in November 2025, will see the witches of Oz — Ariana Grande‘s Galinda, aka Glinda the Good Witch, and Cynthia Erivo‘s Elphaba , aka the Wicked Witch of the West — continuing the story that began with the first film.
The friendships she built on set will be the one thing she will always be thankful for, she said, when asked about her big and lasting takeaway from Wicked, describing the creative team a real family that is staying connected.
The star also addressed how she thinks about her voice and new challenges for it. “I have always been curious how much my voice can do,” she said before explaining how she studied music psychology and that affects her work. “My own emotions open up the door” to other people and help tell stories and build connections, she said.
What does Erivo like about film work? “With movies, there is so much more scope, so much more space to tell a story, so much more time, too,” she told the Jeddah crowd. “On a film or a TV show, the director is with you every day,” while in stage work they can go away for a while. That allows for “really special” relationships with film and TV directors, especially when actor and director see eye-to-eye, she said.
About playing abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the movie Harriet, Erivo argued that people likely didn’t realize “how much she gave up as a young person.” And one of the wonderful challenges was to portray “someone with heartbreak who continued to save other people,” she added.
“You really want to do them justice,” Enrivo shared about the challenge of playing real-life people. “You want to be as clear and honest” as possible. “I get very protective of them. I get very pedantic.” She added that she likes to learn what foods and other things they liked to go beyond simply showing audiences “an emblem.”
What’s her secret to keeping her voice healthy, even during a busy period, such as a film festival in a hot location? “Lots of hydration and silence,” Erivo shared, noting that the latter is often difficult for us all.
Does she ever get green with envy or jealousy in real life, she was also asked Friday. Erivo shared that she really doesn’t. “We all get what we are supposed to get,” she argued. But rudeness annoys her, she told the Jeddah crowd.
Asked about her role models, she mentioned the likes of Cicely Tyson, Viola Davis, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick. She shared that she “loved” that Streisand “was able to transform her career by not just being an actress but a director, which I am leaning toward.”
Grammy-, Emmy- and Tony-Award-winning actress, singer, author and producer Erivo is a two-time Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee who first made a big name for herself with work in The Color Purple on London’s West End and on Broadway.
On Thursday evening, Erivo, along with Emily Blunt, Michelle Yeo, Will Smith, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Longoria, Squid Game breakout Hoyeon, Michelle Rodriguez, competition jury president Spike Lee and many more were part of a global roll call of stars attending the opening ceremony of the fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival. The RSIFF 2024 opening film was Karim Shenawi’s The Tale of Daye’s Family, the story of an 11-year-old albino who gets a chance to audition for The Voice.
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