Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Tell All on ‘Wicked’ Oscar Buzz, Queer Glinda, That Viral Press Tour and What to Expect From Part 2
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in action is a remarkable study in contrasts. Even after months of their omnipresence on social media and TV screens — as fans have consumed every morsel of the ongoing press tour for their film “Wicked,” in which tears have been shed (and shed, and shed!) — it’s hard not to be mesmerized as the London-born theater actor and the Boca Raton-born pop singer, newly minted co-stars, pose for photographs in a New York City studio in early December.
Erivo is stoic, silent, channeling the power of her character Elphaba, though once she’s off-camera she lets loose watching her director Jon M.
Chu take solo shots: “Give me Calvin Klein, Jon!” she shouts. “C’mon, profile! Work!” And on cue, Chu grows half an inch taller, straightening his spine and adjusting the tilt of his chin.
Grande, on the other hand, seems never to stop singing, harmonizing to a playlist that ranges from Whitney Houston’s “Higher Love” to Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” in a voice that sounds subtly different from the one that made “Thank U, Next” and “God Is a Woman” into pop sensations.
