The film adaptation of Wicked features a delightful Easter egg in the One Short Day scene.
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, the original Broadway Glinda and Elphaba, make a surprise appearance, guiding the audience through a colorful stage show about Oz’s history.
“There was no world where we wouldn’t invite them to come be a part of this,” director Jon M. Chu told The Hollywood Reporter.
“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.”
He continued: “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 explained that they had only one day to film this sequence after sneaking Menzel and Chenoweth into London.
“We had one night in the middle of the night, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m, on a rainy night. … 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.’ 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.”
Wicked, which is now in theaters, also stars Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle and Bowen Yang as Pfannee, among others.