Cynthia Erivo stopped by Tonight’s show to discuss the pressures and joys of taking on the role of Elphaba in the upcoming movie adaptation Wicked. At the end of her conversation with host Jimmy Fallon, Erivo shared a never-before-seen clip from the movie teasing her performance of the beloved musical “The Wizard and I.”
Fallon also convinced Erivo to give a preview of her performance of “Defying Gravity,” the most recognizable song in the Broadway musical. The actress admitted that she ended up performing the song “a little differently” than the way the number is written. “I studied it,” she admitted. “When I first auditioned, that’s what I did. I did it as it was written.”
She added that the audition was “crazy” and lasted for three hours. She told Fallon: “I was very sick by the end of it,” she told Fallon. “I stayed in bed for the next week, for about four days with a 104 fever. It was the craziest weekend because I sang at Disney Hall the night before.
Erivo said she didn’t audition with co-star Ariana Grande and didn’t know the singer was up for the role of Galinda until the casting was confirmed. Erivo said: “We never met,” adding that it felt like “instant chemistry.” She said of their relationship: “It was really easy,” she said. “It was beautiful.”
Elsewhere in the late-night show, Fallon recruited Erivo to play a “genre challenge,” which involved turning “The Sound of Music” into R&B pop and the Dream Girls’ “And I Am Tell You I’m Not Going” into an opera.
The first part of Wicked is set to hit theaters on November 22, with the sequel arriving on November 21, 2025. The soundtrack for both halves of the movie will be released simultaneously. The movie is directed by John M. Chu and stars Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, and Peter Dinklage.