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Culture > Entertainment

These Celebs Made Surprise Cameos In The ‘Wicked’ Movie & The Internet’s Screaming

EnJanae Taylor

Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for Wicked Part 1 follow. It’s good to see them, isn’t it? The Emerald City is a magical place, and two very special witches appear there in the new Wicked movie. It’s true: the OG Wicked Witch of the West, Idina Menzel, and Glinda the Good, Kristen Chenoweth, are in Wicked! Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba in the film, and Ariana Grande plays Glinda. However, Menzel and Chenoweth originated the roles on Broadway in 2003. After spending years asking for a Wicked movie, fans are freaking out about the stars making cameos in the film. 

During the musical number “One Short Day,” Elphaba and Glinda explore Emerald City. They go to watch Wizomania, a show praising The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, new verses are added, and Menzel and Chenoweth perform as the Emerald City players. Let’s break down the new lyrics.

The song begins, “Long, long ago, long before we can recall/ There lived here in Oz the magical wise ones/ [WIZOMANIA CHOIR] The magical wise ones/ The wisest of them all/ And thought they’ll live forever, that I can preceed/ So let us set our roam of magic in a strange and sequenced language in a book/ The Gimmerie/ The Gimmerie.”

This talks about the origins of The Grimmerie, a spell book from Earth. In the film, this is the book that The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) get Elphaba to read to cast a spell on the monkeys and give them wings to become spies. 

The song continues, “But time together moved on day by day/ And all those who could read it passed away/ ‘Til one day no one could/ But, the wise ones left a prophecy/ And rise the darkest hour/ But we cannot say when/ There will come a power to read the Grimmerie/ And Oz, which has been said and/ You can see the joy in us/ Ooh-ooh.”

This next verse is, of course, foreshadowing Elphaba being the only one able to read The Grimmerie. “Look, a magic air balloon is arising from the skies/ He’s here to fulfill the prophecy but can he read the Grimmerie?/ His name comes out of the blue, is he the prophecy?/ There’s one way we’ll know if it’s true/ Fetch the Grimmerie/ Omaha.”

Here they’re singing about The Wizard arriving in Oz in a hot air balloon, a nod to The Wizard of Oz. He could not read The Grimmerie, as we come to find out, which is why he needed Elphaba. 

Fans of the musical we’re so excited to see the two OG witches in the film. The reactions from X (formerly known as Twitter) and TikTok have been incredible. 

Seeing Menzel and Chenoweth interact with Erivo and Grande onscreen was magical. It truly made everything come full circle for fans of the musical. 

EnJanae Taylor is a Her Campus national writer. She writes for the Style section, covering beauty, fashion, and decor. She graduated from LSU, earning bachelor’s degrees in fashion merchandising and journalism. She was also the entertainment editor and later the managing editor of LSU’s award-winning newspaper, The Reveille. EnJanae’ is currently a contributing writer for Southern Living. She’s previously written for The Everygirl, College Fashionista, and Basic Magazine. EnJanae’ loves everything fashion and pop culture related. Her favorite activities are going to the movies, shopping, and seeing her favorite artists in concert. She also runs a food account with her best friend and loves eating a good meal.