How Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth star in the movie

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Wicked,” now in theaters.

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have found their way back to Oz. Broadway’s original witches make a surprising appearance in director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” but not as Elphaba and Glinda.

The duo, who started starring in 2003, sing a new verse in “One Short Day,” which tells the story behind the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Their characters battle for the spotlight in the Emerald City, prompting Menzel’s character to shut down the competition by belting out her famous “Defying Gravity” riff.

Composer Stephen Schwartz also appeared as the Oz soldier who allows Elphaba and Glinda to enter the wizard’s palace, while the musical’s book writer Winnie Holzman similarly appears in Emerald City, highlighting the wizard’s ability to read the Grimmerie.

Dressed in over-the-top pink and purple puffed dresses, Menzel and Chenoweth each share a sweet moment with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who take on the roles they made famous.

“It was so surreal. It was really extraordinary,” Grande says Black to share the screen with the Broadway legends. “I mean to have the women who helped write and create and birth these characters embrace us and embrace our versions of them was just so incredibly surreal. I mean they had been texting us and they had supported us beforehand, but I don’t think they ever got to see or hear our versions of the characters until they were on set, so it was really emotional.”

Grande previously starred in NBC’s 2016 “Hairspray Live!” with Chenoweth praising her casting as Glinda the Good in numerous interviews. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been so proud,” Chenoweth posted on social media at the time of Grande’s casting in 2021. “From the very first day I met you … you were destined for this role.”

Menzel has also been effusive about Erivo, tells ET“She’s just incredible. I feel like she’s the one to pass the torch to. You’re going to love her.” Menzel and Erivo too awarded a prize together at the 2024 Tony Awards earlier this year. “I just want to step away from the script real quick to say how excited I am to see what I know is going to be a great performance in the movie you’re making,” Menzel said on stage. “Green girl power!”

Marc Platt, who produced both the stage musical and film adaptations, says he will never forget the day the duo filmed their cameos. “I think when Kristin and Idina came on set, there was so much love and respect from the film crew, especially Ari and Cynthia and Jon Chu — almost like they were royalty! They had grown up listening to these two women sing, and you felt that sense of awe and also legacy,” he says. “And then Kristin and Idina were in equal awe of these two younger women making these roles their own.”

“There is a moment when Idina fixes my hat and sends me off. Not to be clichéd, it was almost like skipping the diet,” says Erivo. “So to get almost like the blessing from the Queen herself felt really, really beautiful.”

Platt says Menzel and Chenoweth initially had reservations about appearing in the film for fear of stealing Grande and Erivo’s thunder. “Both girls, Kristin and Idina, were a little nervous about it. Kristin jumped in pretty quickly because she and Ari had been in a relationship and she was excited,” he says, adding that Menzel “didn’t want to count on anything to do with Cynthia. She thought, ‘This is her moment. I want her to have her moment.'”

A little convincing from Platt was all it took to change their minds. “I said, ‘You both want to touch the film. You are a part of “Wicked” lore forever.’ And because we found an organic way, as Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman wrote, to bring them into the film as part of the storytelling, ‘You want to be a part of something bigger than you, and then for the rest of the ​​your life, you will always be a part of “Wicked”, even in the movie.’ And they both said, ‘Okay, you’re right.'”

“I was so honored that they wanted to include us,” Chenoweth says Black. “I was like, ‘Should we? Am I weird because it’s (Ariana and Cynthia’s) now?’ And Mark Platt said, ‘You have to. What do you mean? It wouldn’t happen without you!'”

“Idina and I had so much fun,” she adds of the emotional day she and Menzel filmed their cameos. “Our costumes were amazing and we just came up with our stuff. We just had the best time ever. We did it in one day and being reunited with my sister was very, very special.” Chenoweth says she and Menzel arrived on set early and had dinner to catch up: “We had a good time there. Elphie and Glinda grew up!”

Chenoweth also says she’s thrilled that the revered musical has finally made its way to the big screen so a wider audience can discover the magical story. “I’m so glad they made the movie because I grew up in Oklahoma and it wasn’t like we could afford to see a Broadway show: dinner, hotel, all that. And now we have the movie , and it will be brought to new generations of people who may be in the same boat as I was. I’m really proud.”

“Kristin and I have seen each other many times in the last 20 years, but it was wonderful,” Menzel says of the reunion. “It was wonderful to be there, to get all those emotions, to rehearse together, to kind of echo our characters, to be with Cynthia and Ari and just enjoy the set in a completely different way. That was all.”

For Erivo, Menzel and Chenoweth’s support (on and off set) has been a source of comfort and inspiration as she puts her own spin on the iconic role of Elphaba. “They’ve been really wonderful with us and we’ve had the most incredible words of encouragement from both of them,” she says. “Those things mean a lot to us, because they don’t need to. It’s theirs from all this time, but for them to spare the good words and give us space to also do what we want with them is really meaningful, really touching.”

Platt hopes Menzel and Chenoweth’s involvement speaks to the lasting legacy of “Wicked” as a new fan base discovers the beloved musical. “I think we all came together, felt like there’s something bigger than all of us, and that we’re part of something that can live on beyond all of us,” he says . “The ability to join the two worlds, the original stage world and the film world, especially for the four girls, was something that no one who witnessed that night of filming will ever forget. It was truly beautiful.”