Ariana Grande is a Best Supporting Actress nominee at tonight’s Critics Choice Awards for her role as Glinda in Wicked: For Good. The actress channeled the character on the red carpet, wearing a pale-pink gown with a bejeweled, sheer cape overlay by Alberta Ferretti. She had her brown hair up in a curled ponytail.
Ahead of the awards show, Grande sent a heartfelt letter to the voters about how much playing Glinda meant to her, along with the work she put into the character, which she described as “the most demanding role of my career.” A Critics Choice Awards member shared the note on X, which fan accounts and news outlets subsequently recirculated.
Thank you so much for the incredible support. Playing Glinda has been the privilege of my life and the most demanding role of my career. From the beginning, I was drawn to her because her purpose is to invite the audience to look outside themselves and consider that it’s never too late to become part of the solution or an ally, especially in a time of deep division.
As an actor, the challenge was making that invitation feel as human as possible rather than aspirational. Much of the work was in playing what she does not yet see but what she feels and slowly tracking her to become connected to what’s truly in her heart. The character exists inside a system that rewards spectacle and obedience. I had to understand how safe and validating that system feels to her before it ever becomes frightening to her. It required balancing her performative nature and her truth, as she has had to become so skilled at presenting one thing to the public while suffering quietly on the inside. She begins as a privileged young woman so desperate for external approval that she doesn’t yet recognize her own emptiness. Everything she believes she wants, and has dreamed of, is ultimately shallow and corrupt. The craft was letting that emptiness live beneath the humor, never announcing it or judging it, but allowing it to surface in moments of stillness. The most rewarding part of the work that goes into a role like Glinda is finding that balance, making room for both her light and darkness to exist together and finding the moments where each of them are in the control seat. When her light is turned on, the darkness is just beneath the surface. When she is experiencing heartbreak or loss, she uses humor to cover it up. That dance was my favorite thing about this character and a most delicious challenge that I will always be grateful for.
It is such a rare opportunity to play a character that requires you to use every single tool available in the tool box. A significant part of this role required balancing live singing with dramatic performance, treating the voice as an extension of Glinda’s psychology. I aimed to let the character’s intention and vulnerability shape the sound using the voice as another storytelling instrument. To allow that to be possible, I began training three months before my audition to be able to sing operatically and to erase all familiarity and tone that exists in my usual singing voice. This preparation made it possible for me to not even have to think about the singing or Glinda’s voice because it was already there. It made it possible to be present in her body, and to just be able to listen…and respond.
All of the classes I’ve taken, all of the things I’ve practiced became useful in this one, singular role. I do believe a lot of my life experiences prepared me for her and that her comedic nature and her high voice have nothing to do with why it was my destiny to play her. I’d like to think it’s also her strength. She made me laugh, cry, dance, sing, float, smile, and crumble. I don’t know if I’ll ever again play a character that contains so many multitudes, and I’ll cherish this experience and this challenge for the rest of my life. I’d do it all again tomorrow if I could.
Thank you for taking the time to watch this film that I am, and we all are, so endlessly proud of.
Wishing you a happy new year!
Sincerely,
Ariana Grande
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.elle.com ’
