A packed house of fans in the audience—some dressed in pink, most in green—did scream when they saw Cynthia Erivo, as her character, Elphaba, had predicted in the first film’s “The Wizard and I.” They also screamed when they saw Ariana Grande, whose high, bouncy ponytail was as buoyant as the bubble her Glinda favors for transport. They screamed for Jonathan Bailey, for Bowen Yang, and for Colman Domingo, as well as Chu, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Marissa Bode, and Ethan Slater. Hell, they screamed at the very mention of Winnie Holzman, who wrote the musical’s dialogue. Let’s hear it for the book!
Led by a contingent of uniformed Yellow Brick Road guardsmen, the film’s cast and director joined producer Marc Platt at the front of the house to rapturous applause.
After brief remarks by Platt, Chu took on spokesperson duties for his company, who were huddled close and clutching at one another’s elbows in excitement for this final bow.
“How do you describe what it feels like to work on a project for five-plus years?” Chu said. Once again, he marveled that the films he once worried would “end” his career—and send him back to the exile of shooting wedding videos—have instead became an unstoppable cultural juggernaut.
“We had three children while making this movie,” Chu said of himself and his wife, Kristin Hodge, who share five kids total. “One was born on the day of the premiere last year. I watched it from the delivery room while she was pushing. I was just peeking. It was when Fiyero runs into Elphaba for the first time in the forest. I marked it, and didn’t tell [Hodge]. That’s a reveal tonight.” Surely an astrologer can work this into the kid’s chart.
Scarlett Spears, Ariana Grande, and Cynthia Erivo.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
