‘The sun was up and all of us were covered in mascara’

Warning: This story contains spoilers for Wicked

Did you spot some familiar faces in the Emerald City?

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were joined onscreen by two very special actors for a memorable scene at the end of the film. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, the film’s stars opened up about that “emotional” day on set.

Last chance to avoid spoilers!

There has been speculation for months as to whether Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, the stars who originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway, would make an appearance in the movie. Fans had to wait almost two hours to learn it does indeed happen.

“It was so surreal,” Grande recalls of the special moment. “[Kristin and Idina] have been so loving and so supportive of us. And it was just a really emotional night. We finished at 7:30 in the morning. The sun was up and all of us were covered in mascara, like head to toe. It was very surreal.”

The cameo happens during Glinda and Elphaba’s duet “One Short Day” when they are on their way to meet the Wizard of Oz. Chenoweth and Menzel appear as the Wise Ones and perform a song and dance.

“It was wonderful just to have them on set,” Erivo adds. “You know, [Wicked] is their baby. They brought it to the world and to be able to share the space and share the set with them was really cool.”

Erivo says there was one moment in particular she’ll cherish forever: “I’ll never forget Idina adjusting my hat. Like, it will never leave my mind.”

Stephen Schwartz, who composed the Broadway musical the film is based on, created the new song and dance Menzel and Chenoweth performed. He told Today they had “all sorts of ideas” of how to incorporate the stars into the film. They toyed around with Chenoweth playing Glinda’s mother or the actors popping up as teachers at Shiz University, where Glinda and Elphaba meet.

“We wanted, obviously, to honor Kristin and Idina by having them be in the movie,” he said.

Wicked is now in theaters.