Wicked” composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he pitched Ariana Grande on a different version of “Popular” for the film adaptation that she instantly turned down.

Ariana Grande, pop singer-turned-actress playing “Glinda” in Wicked, explored her character’s sexuality while doing an interview promoting the new film. Grande and her co-star Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba,

Wicked’s Ariana Grande turned down an offer to add more hip-hop to “Popular.” Wicked, which stars Grande as Galinda Upland/Glinda the Good, is now playing in United States theaters. Based on the popular Broadway play of the same name,

In a new Los Angeles Times oral history, Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz explains:

Now, Grande, a Boca Raton native, is celebrating that full circle moment of seeing “Wicked” for the first time with her beloved 99-year-old nonna, to sitting in the exact movie theater she grew up going to as a child watching her nonna watch her in her dream role.

Wicked director Jon M. Chu has explained why he had to ask Ariana Grande to ‘come back’ with no makeup on following her first audition.

Glinda the Good Witch is a pivotal character from L. Frank Baum’s ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Here are actresses who have played Glinda, including Ariana Grande and Kristin Chenoweth.

Critics and fans alike have been raving about Ariana Grande‘s performance as Glinda in the new film adaptation of Wicked. But according to the show's original composer, one of her most pivotal scenes almost sounded very different.

Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit. Ariana said, ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda,'” Schwartz tells The Times. In fact, Grande was so protective of Glinda she didn’t even want to add what became a show-stopping dance break finale to the number.