Jonathan Murray Chu discusses the miscommunication during Ariana’s initial auditions.
Jonathan Murray Chu revealed that he made a serious mistake while auditioning Ariana Grande for the long-anticipated musical Wicked.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the American film director was asked if Ariana had been considered for a different role, to which he responded emphatically, “No.”
“We were getting mixed messages,” he explained.
He claimed that he knew from the start that the We Can’t Be Friends singer would be ideal for the character of Glinda, but the casting director had misled him into thinking she was auditioning for the role of Elphaba.
“I am like, ‘That was not the plan.'” And they say, ‘Well, she prepped it,'” he said.
After forcing the 31-year-old singer to prepare for many Elphaba songs, Jonathan and Ariana both refused to continue.
Even though the American singer and songwriter have previously stated that Glinda is her ideal role, casting directors believed she wanted to play Cynthia Erivo’s role after seeing her performance in The Wizard and I on NBC’s 15th anniversary special.
On the Sentimental Men podcast, the Sam and Cat actress revealed that she auditioned for both roles.
“I was hearing mixed things from people who were like, ‘Oh, they maybe want you to read for both,'” she told me.
“And I thought, ‘I guess that’s because they don’t know what my voice is, and maybe they think vocally I might be better-suited for Elphaba but I secretly knew that I was only meant for Glinda.”