The music of Wicked as we know it has been changed for good, with Jon M. Chu and Stephen Schwartz adding two brand new numbers to the score for the live-action films, snippets of which were shared Thursday (Nov. 6).
Performed by leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the ballads are named “No Place Like Home” — a nod to the musical’s source material, The Wizard of Oz — and “The Girl in the Bubble.” In a 30-second preview of the first, Elphaba reflects on happier times with her friends at Shiz before being banished from Oz and sings, “Why do I love this place that’s never loved me?”
In the second, we see Glinda looking over her riches and fame and realizing that she yearns for something more. “Isn’t it high time for her bubble to pop?” she sings gently.
Both songs were written for the Wicked films by Schwartz, who composed the music for the Broadway musical on which the screen adaptation was based. Last year, he told The Messenger, “The storytelling required it, and therefore they were created.”
The snippets come just a few weeks ahead of the Nov. 21 premiere of Wicked: For Good, which will close out the two-part saga that first kicked off in November last year. The first Wicked film broke box-office records and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with its soundtrack, not to mention earned Academy Awards for best costume and production design.
In the lead-up to the finale’s release worldwide, the main Wicked cast has kicked off a promo cycle involving numerous international premieres. The run started in São Paulo — which Grande was forced to miss due to a “safety issue” with her flight — and will continue throughout the month with screenings in Paris, London and Singapore.
The film leads also got fans hyped for part two by performing a number of Wicked tracks live for a concert special, which premiered Thursday (Nov. 6) on NBC and Peacock.
Watch Erivo and Grande perform parts of “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble” Below.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com ’
