‘Wicked’ director recalls bringing Broadway stars to silver screen

The Wicked director Jon M. Chu recently revealed how he came up with the cameos of original Broadway musical stars, Indina Menzel and Kristina Chenoweth in the film adaptation.

Menzel and Chenoweth, who first played the role of Glinda and Elphaba when the play premiered on Broadway in 2003, appeared in the song One Short Day.

"It was a tightrope that we all had to talk about a lot, with Stephen [Schwartz] and Winnie [Holzman] as well, where’s the best place," Chu told Cinemablend.

The Crazy Rich Asian director initially considered various ideas for their cameos but said none of them felt right.

"They’re at the top of their game right now," he explained. 

He said that if they are on the set then "you want them to do their thing, and I always felt like as a fan myself, if I see them in this movie, I’m going to want them to do their thing."

The 45-year-old explained that he wanted a "Wizomania" type of ride when two women arrive at Oz, which was inspired by Disney’s It’s a Small World ride.

The In The Heights filmmaker envisioned a performance unfolding in front of the  the Broadway stars that transitions them "back to the Wizard’s palace".

"So, we had that, because we needed to set up what the show didn’t have too much about, that we had to do, which was set up the Grimmerie, why the Wizard was here, what the prophecy is we had a lot of information to give."

Chu explained that during that discussion he suggested to add a little flair in the segment. "We have this section anyway, that’s sort of outside of the narrative that we need to give," by adding "a little sugar to the information."

In response to that Schwartz said, "'Give me one night.' And he rewrote the whole thing as a performance for these girls. It was so fun, that’s where it felt like this is a great moment of sort of a send-off."

However, the movie Wicked is running in theatres since November 22, 2024.