A number of movie musicals have won Best Picture over the years, and another contender might have that honor this year thanks to Jon M. Chu's Wicked: For Good. The highly anticipated sequel will hit theaters later this month, and recently got a major promotion thanks to the event Wicked: One Wonderful Night (which is streaming with a Peacock subscription). And now we know more about how Cynthia Erivo defied expectations (and gravity) when belting out the final number while flying through the air on wires.
What we know about Wicked: For Good is limited, but we're getting more glimpses into the sequel as it gets closer to theaters. Fans will be treated to two new songs on the soundtrack, but the franchise's most beloved song is "Defying Gravity." Ben Winston executive produced One Wonderful Night and spoke to Golden Derby about the conversation that went into Erivo taking flight. As he told it:
We pitched it to her, and I thought she would say, ‘I've got enough to do in these two days. You know how hard it is to sing these songs, and now you want to strap me up to a wire and fly me around?’ I did think she'd tell us where to go, and it was quite the opposite.
Perhaps this shouldn't have been so surprising. Cynthia Erivo did insane wire work filming Wicked, which has looked stunning onscreen. By comparison, she simply had to be lifted into the air for One Wonderful Night, and travel around the stage while being upright. She's no stranger to the intense physical work required, so why wouldn't she be open to flexing those muscles for the Wicked event?
So how did this meeting go down? Winston went on to share how the Tony-winning star of the stage and screen responded to the suggestion of flying for Wicked: One Wonderful Night. Erivo had some concerns, as he put it:
She just said, ‘I would love to do it, but let me try it in rehearsals and see how it affects me vocally.’ And so that's what we did. I was incredibly nervous about it, because you’re watching this superstar on very, very thin wires. They did not look like thick wires. That's the sort of EP and owner of the company in me getting nervous.
It sounds like Winston and Erivo had very different perspectives on the risks of this move, based upon their respective jobs on the Wicked franchise. While the Pinocchio actress wants to make sure she gave a good vocal performance, the exec was nervous about the star of his movie getting injured.
In the end Cynthia Erivo went for it, and shocked audiences when soaring into the sky while singing "Defying Gravity" on One Wonderful Night. It's one of many memorable moments of the night, and Ben Winston shared the feeling of seeing her in the air for the first time. In his words:
But she was up for it. And as soon as she was up there and she started singing, the worries melt from your brain, because of how incredible she sounded up there. And it was really very emotional. You never get bored watching it. It was a very powerful moment.
The marketing for Wicked: For Good is in full effect, and this type of event and spectacle should hopefully result folks going to see the sequel in theaters. The first Wicked movie broke box offie records, and also got nominated for some Oscars. The early buzz for the sequel has ben positive, and fans are eager to see the story play out with adult versions of characters like Glinda and Elphaba.
Wicked: One Wonderful Night is streaming now on Peacock and For Good will hit theaters November 21st as part of the 2025 movie release list. And smart money says we'll see plenty of epic flying scenes for Cynthia Erivo in the highly anticipated sequel.
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