They are not bad is already bursting with stars, from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum. But the film takes its star meter up a notch by bringing together three of the most influential people from the original stage show to film.
Who entered Are they bad?
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in “Bad.”
Credit: Universal Pictures
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, the original Broadway Elphaba and Glinda, both enter They are not bad in the short cameos though the audience at my screenings They appear in the song “One Short Day,” when Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande) first arrive in Emerald City.
There, Elphaba and Glinda go to a game of Wizomaniaa musical about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Goldblum). Wizomania made a short “One Short Day” part of the musical, but the film expands on it, adding a new story about the Wise Ones of Oz, who wrote a book called the Grimmerie that can only be read by those with magic. gifted (as a Wizard). Appropriately enough, Menzel and Chenoweth star in The Wise Men.
In an early preview and Q&A about the film, They are not bad composer and songwriter Schwartz discussed the new Wizomania and bringing Menzil and Chenoweth into the fold.
“[With Wizomania]we have time to show a lot of the Wizard’s propaganda, how he’s putting this false story out into the world and convincing all of Oz that he has skills that he doesn’t have,” said Schwartz. “Also, we wanted to explain more about what this mysterious book, the Grimmerie, is, because it’s not only important in this movie, but it’s more important in the second movie.”
Schwartz again They are not bad director Jon M. Chu always wanted to put Menzel and Chenoweth in the film, but didn’t know how. Can they become a teacher at Shiz University? Someone’s mother? In the end, it was Chu who picked up The Wise Men, especially since the roles serve as an homage to how Menzel and Chenoweth began the stage lives of Elphaba and Glinda. Their set also features a fun nod to their original roles, with Chenoweth shushing Grande in a very Glinda-like way, and Menzel hitting it off with her first “Defying Gravity” finale.
Meanwhile, Schwartz himself appears at the end of “One Short Day,” announcing to Elphaba and Glinda that “The Wizard will see you now!”
Of the experience on set with Menzel, Chenoweth, Erivo, and Grande, Schwartz said, “We actually just shot it, but we cried a lot.”
They are not bad now in the theater.
