Ariana Grande opens up about ending ‘Wicked’ filming

Ariana Grande gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at her final day of filming as Glinda in her iconic magical bubble.

Wicked: Part One, an adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, stars Grande as the good witch Glinda. Cynthia Eriva as Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West. Filming the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, Grande’s Glinda makes her grand entrance into Munchkinland in a floating bubble, kicking off the film in dazzling fashion.

Ariana Grande also got emotional on The Drew Barrymore Show on Dec. 5 when she was presented with a special piece of movie history: the original magic wand used by Billie Burke as Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.

In a behind-the-scenes video shared on Instagram by Ariana Grande and director John M. The teary-eyed actress is seen reacting to her final day of filming as Glinda in her magical bubble. Dressed in her fancy pink dress on a bubble prop, Grande responds to Choo’s question about how she’s feeling, “Terrible. Terrible.”

“I’m not getting up,” a “very emotional” Grande says in the clip. “I need to call my therapist, I really do. It’s a mess.”

When asked by Chu about her first impression of the bubble prop, Grande quipped, “I thought it was pretty, but I also thought it was a karaoke booth.” The video ends with a montage of moments from her last day of filming on the vibrant Munchkinland set.

Grande captioned the video, “Trying to say goodbye to my bubble after we finished filming my last scene in it (just in the bubble, not the last scene in the movies!) which is actually one of the first you see.”

“The attachment I felt to my wand and bubble was ridiculously overwhelming. (Please don’t be shy)!” – she continued. “Many, many long beautiful days have been spent here in the sun, freezing rain and wind. We’ve sung, laughed, shared tearful, difficult and silly moments. These props and physical pieces of her puzzle hold so much!!!!!!!”

The actress then called her bubble “a home away from home” and “a protective shell.” “(It was) a quiet, safe place for all her little secrets and truths.”

“Her wand filled the void in her heart, it gave her a sense of purpose and power and magic, even if that magic was somewhat in her head,” Grande explained. “I often miss those physical parts of her. Sorry, that caption sounds like a literal eulogy.’

“Me, everybody, we all cried every day,” Grande shared on the Broadway Network’s Sentimental Men Podcast. A special salute to Wicked director John M. Of Chu and her co-stars Cynthia Erive and Jonathan Bailey, the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer said, “Everybody was crying. It was really beautiful.” With a touch of humor, she added, “It was horrible.”

Later in the podcast, the actress said: “I love Judy Garland and have always been a huge Wizard of Oz person,” adding that she remembers being blown away by the “untold story of the Wizard of Oz” at age 10.

During her visit to Broadway, Grande not only saw the show, but also had the opportunity to meet her Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweththe original Elphaba and Glinda, during a backstage tour. “Idina gave me a little green bracelet,” and Chenoweth “gave me a little wand, which seems so full circle and crazy. And the glitter body wash and she said it was magical. And now I really believe it was!”

Before being cast, Grande had no chemistry with Cynthia Eriva, whom she described as “the best, most formidable actress and singer out there.”

She added that during their meeting, they made a pact to “get to know each other in a way where I can just look at her and know what she’s thinking…because without that, nothing else will happen.”