Elphaba and Glinda may have spent one short day in the Emerald City, but they certainly made the most of their time there—and saw a couple of familiar faces too. (Be forewarned: Wicked spoilers abound!)
Those who have seen Wicked now that it’s in theaters may have noticed some very special cameos when Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) travel to the Emerald City to meet Jeff Goldblum’s wonderful Wizard of Oz. Yes: the original Wicked witches, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, appear in the middle of “One Short Day,” delighting fans of the original Broadway musical.
True heads know that Menzel and Chenoweth originated the roles of Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked on Broadway in 2003. Fans have long speculated whether the two OGs would make an appearance in either of the Wicked films given their history with the musical. Their wish is granted when Menzel and Chenoweth pop up in the new, extended Wizomania sequence—a show within a show within “One Short Day.” Wizomania features dancers wearing egg-shaped costumes whose heads spring off midnumber, in a nod to the “Flatheads” who appear in L. Frank Baum’s original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Then out come Menzel and Chenoweth, who tell the tale of the wizard while describing his magical book of spells, the Grimmerie.
“In Oz’s darkest hour, though we cannot say when,” sings Menzel. Then Chenoweth chimes in with her signature soprano: “There comes one with a power to read the Grimmerie again.” During the number, Chenoweth breaks out some of the original Glinda’s leaps and baton twirling, while Menzel gets to perform Elphaba’s iconic battle cry. At the end, each gets a moment with the actor following in her footsteps: Menzel with Erivo, and Chenoweth with Grande. It’s a genuinely touching and inventive bit of fan service.
According to Stephen Schwartz who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked, the expanded “One Short Day” wasn’t simply a ploy to get Menzel and Chenoweth into the film—it was textually motivated. He and Wicked book writer Winnie Holzman wanted to take an opportunity “to show the Wizard’s propaganda,” Schwartz said during a recent post-screening Q&A at the Director’s Guild Theater. “How he’s getting out into the world this fake story, and persuading all of Oz that he has powers that he doesn’t. We also wanted to explain more what this mysterious book the Grimmerie is, because it figures extremely importantly not just in this movie—but extremely importantly in movie two.”
Plugging Menzel and Chenoweth into the Wizomania sequence came after a lot of subpar cameo ideas, according to Schwartz. “We have to get them in the movie somewhere, but we had all these very not good ideas,” he said. “They could be somebody’s mother. They could be a teacher.” It was director Jon M. Chu who landed on the iconic pair appearing together in Wizomania. “Jon M. Chu said, ‘Well, you’ve written these ‘wise ones of Oz.’ Why don’t we just have that be the two wise women of Oz, and make it Kristin and Idina?” said Schwartz.
Menzel and Chenoweth aren’t the only Wicked personalities making cameos in “One Short Day.” Schwartz and Holzman also make surprise appearances in the number. Holzman appears as a citizen of the Emerald City who’s excited to see a projection of Goldblum’s Wizard as he reads aloud from the Grimmerie, booming out the mysterious syllables “Ooh Maaa Haaa.” (Get it? “Omaha”?)
Schwartz, meanwhile, plays the all-important palace guard who gets to deliver the classic line, “The wizard will see you now,” at the very end of the song. According to Schwartz, “One Short Day” was shot on the last day before production had to pause for months on Wicked because of the Hollywood strikes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was an emotional experience for all. “We basically shot it and cried, mostly,” he said. So did the rest of us.