Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo dazzled on the red carpet of the premiere for Wicked alongside their co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.
Jennifer Lopez, Idina Menzel and Normani were also special guests at the event in Los Angeles ahead of the film’s release worldwide.
Singer Grande plays Galinda Upland in the big screen remake of the Broadway and West End play while London actress Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp.
The plot sees the witches strike a friendship in their formative years at school before Galinda becomes Glinda the Good Witch of the North and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West.
Madame Morrible (Yeoh) and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Goldblum) are perhaps the real villains of the tale as they try to manipulate public perception to ensure peace.
Grande, who wore a pink dress for the premiere, is on the cast list under her full name Ariana Grande-Butera as a way of honouring her “younger self,” she said last week.
Erivo wore green for the occasion and has responded, alongside her co-star, to allegations that the film’s poster is “degrading” in the eyes of some.
British fans can see the film in cinemas from November 27 and London’s St Pancras station has been getting in on the action by unveiling a Christmas tree themed with Wicked.
This is the first in what is set to be a two-part series of films, with Wicked 2 set for its release in November 2025.
Director Jon M Chu explained on social media last year why the film would be in two parts.
“Special Wicked Update / Thank you for all the support these past several months in anticipation of the Wicked movie,” he told fans. “We have so many exciting things to share but for now I’m giving you one… or two, rather.
“Here’s what happened: As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of ‘Wicked’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu said.
“As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two!
“With more space, we can tell the story of Wicked as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”
