Ariana Grande opens up about the end of filming for ‘Wicked’

Ariana Grande She offered fans a first behind-the-scenes glimpse of filming her final day as Glinda in her famous magical bubble.

“Wicked: Part One,” a film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, features Grande as Glinda the Good Witch alongside Cynthia Erivo Like Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West. In a nod to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, Grande’s Glinda makes a grand entrance into Munchkinland inside a floating bubble, kicking off the film in dazzling fashion.

Ariana Grande also got emotional on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Dec. 5 when she was presented with a special piece of cinematic history: the original magic wand used by Billie Burke as Glinda in “The Wizard of Oz.”

In a behind-the-scenes video shared by Ariana Grande and director Jon M. Chu on Instagram, the actress is seen tearful as she reacts to her final day filming the role of Glinda inside her magical bubble. Wearing her elaborate pink dress inside a bubble prop, Grande responds to Cho’s question about how she feels by saying, “Terrible. Terrible.”

“I’m not waking up,” a “very emotional” Grande says in the clip. “I need to call my therapist, I really do. This is a mess.”

When Cho asked her what her first impression of the bubble prop was, Grande responded with humor: “I thought it was pretty but I also thought it was a karaoke booth.” The video concludes with a montage of moments from filming her final day on the vibrant Munchkinland set.

Grande captioned the video, “Trying to say goodbye to my bubble after we finished filming the last scene in it (just in the bubble, not the last scene in the movies!) which happens to be one of the first scenes you see.”

“The connection I felt to my wand and my bubble was comically overwhelming. (Please feel free to laugh)!” I continued. “We spent many, many long, beautiful days here, in the sunshine, in the rain and in the freezing wind. We sang, we laughed, we shared tearful, complicated moments and silly moments alike. These props and physical pieces of her puzzle carry that so much!!!!!!! “

The actress then called her bubble a “home away from home” and a “protective shell.” “(It was) a quiet, safe place for all her little secrets and truths.”

“Her wand filled a void in her heart, and gave her a sense of purpose, strength, and magic, even if that magic was somewhat in her head,” Grande explained. “I miss these physical parts of her so much. Sorry, this caption sounds like a literal eulogy.”

“Me, everyone, we all cried every day,” Grande shared on the Emotional Network Men podcast. Giving a special shout-out to Wicked director Jon M. Chu and co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer said, “Everyone cried. It was really beautiful.” “That was terrible,” she added with a touch of humor.

Later in the podcast, the actress revealed: “I love Judy Garland, and I’ve always been a Wizard of Oz person,” adding that she remembers being amazed by “the untold story of the Wizards of Oz” at her age. 10.

During her visit to Broadway, Grande not only saw the show, but also had the chance to meet her Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweththe original Elphaba and Glinda during a behind-the-scenes tour. “Idina gave me a little green bracelet” and Chenoweth “gave me a little wand, which looks like a perfect, crazy circle. And a body lotion that had glitter in it, and she said it was magical. And now I really believe it was!”

Before being cast, Grande had no chemistry with Cynthia Erivo, whom she described as “the best, most amazing actress and singer ever.”

She added that the two agreed when they met to “know each other this way, where I can just look at her and know what she’s thinking… because without that, nothing else will work.”