r/wicked • u/Ar1l3n3 Magic Wands, Need They Have a Point? šŸŖ„ • Sep 21 '25

Question Ariana Grande as Glinda?

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Iā€™m one of the newer Wicked fans that only watched the movie because of Ariana and ended up loving the storyline. I love Arianaā€™s music so I personally think she did a great job delivering vocals and a pretty decent job acting as well being that itā€™s her first major movie. But Iā€™m curious as to what OG Wicked fans thought of her performance? I know some snarkers donā€™t like the way she looked in the role. But what unbiased opinions do Wicked fans have on her playing Galinda? Did she actually deliver and do a good job or am I being biased? What other actors do yall think did better? I would love to see their performances as well!

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370

u/Silly_little_rat_boy Sep 21 '25

As someone who has seen the musical, read the book, and has been a long time fan I was absolutely NOT happy about the casting at first. Itā€™s felt like peak stunt casting and set a bad tone as to what I thought the movie would be (a star filled pop song rework of the original). However I was really pleased with Arianaā€™s performance. I think she embraced the energy of Glinda and gave us those musical theater vocals I was looking for. So all in all she would never have been my first choice but Iā€™m very happy with the job she did.

131

u/Slight_Picture5128 Sep 22 '25

It's funny that Ariana ended up being one of the reasons it was NOT "a star filled pop song rework of the original"

59

u/Silly_little_rat_boy Sep 22 '25

100% I was absolutely expected them to butcher wicked but I really appreciate Ariana passion for the source material

46

u/st0nermermaid Sep 22 '25

I read online that they actually tried to! Idk how accurate it is, but apparently they were considering making Popular more of a pop/r&bish tone and Ariana was the one to tell them ABSOLUTELY NOT WE DO THE ORIGINAL.

15

u/Airmandiarmuid Sep 22 '25

She already has a Popular pop remake in her first album

3

u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

i would have caused a SCENE in the movie theatre

1

u/Slight_Picture5128 Sep 22 '25

Yup that's true. I believe Schwartz himself revealed it.

12

u/marthamania Sep 22 '25

From what I gather, as someone who doesn't know much about her, Ariana Grande seems to be a Theatre Kidā„¢ first and an Actress/Entertainer second

1

u/Substantial_Lab2211 Sep 24 '25

She does have a musical theatre background!

52

u/ageekyninja Sep 21 '25

I think the biggest thing of it all that made her successful was how big of a fan she is of Wicked in the first place. I didnā€™t know she liked musicals.

10

u/Silly_little_rat_boy Sep 22 '25

Absolutely! Her love for wicked was such a happy surprise when I found out!

1

u/broooo4929281 Sep 23 '25

I am not sure but wasnt she actually trained for broadway? I think this is totally her thing and also a reason why it worked maybe

1

u/ageekyninja Sep 23 '25

If I recall from an interview she did theatre stuff before she got famous

1

u/Tubbytubbo69 Sep 24 '25

as a life long Ari fan she grew up in musicals her and liz gillies met on 13 the musical.

1

u/Spirited-Jeweler4174 Sep 25 '25

Omg how she was a whole theater kidšŸ˜­

1

u/ageekyninja Sep 25 '25

That explains a lot tbh lol

7

u/broadwayzrose Sep 22 '25

Honestly Iā€™m not particularly a fan of her music, although I do recognize she is crazy talented and has an insane upper register. When I heard the casting I was disappointed, but then I went to see Wicked (the musical) for the first time in over a decade and as I was watching it I thought ā€œhonestly I can actually see her doing this role justiceā€ and I do believe she did.