In Wicked, Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero dazzled us all with his moves during the standout “Dancing Through Life” musical number. However, he just reminded us that he wasn’t always as smooth as his character on the set of the movie. As we wait for the Wicked: For Good release date to arrive, he recently shared a funny story about the time he was rehearsing with Ariana Grande and things got totally awkward when he missed a step.
Jonathan Bailey has been a busy fellow in recent years, and just ahead of landing on set to play Fiyero for Wicked, he was shooting Bridgerton and Fellow Travelers, and he didn’t have much time to prep. Here’s a funny story the actor told GQ about dancing through life with Ariana Grande:
I remember having four hours to learn how to do a dance move. I did it with Ari, headbutted her, and was like, ‘Gotta go!’ I think she might have even headbutted me, but it was a meeting of minds, literally.
Bailey is so quick on his feet in Wicked, one would never know he only had a short amount of time to prepare for the movie’s big dance numbers. I’m definitely laughing over his reaction to headbutting global pop star and our Glinda, Ariana Grande, because it sounds like he got super embarrassed and wanted to peace out as soon as it happened. I can't say I blame him for zooming away, and I guess even the Bridgerton star can get embarrassed!
It’s a funny story, but things like this have to be part of the job, especially when you have the schedule Jonathan Bailey did prior to his Independence Day-like experience landing on the set of the Wicked movies.
Bailey said he joined the movie after taking part in just three days of rehearsals. And previously, Ariana Grande shared that he was learning the choreography on his days off shooting Bridgerton just before he came onto the sets of Wicked. He would fly in just to have a dance rehearsal and then return to the Bridgerton set before officially settling into Oz for the shoot.
Fiyero’s dancing in Wicked is definitely one of the many highlights of the first movie, especially when it comes to that rotating library in “Dancing Through Life,” which proved to be one of the more technically challenging scenes in the first movie. However, it feels like we’re going to want to hold that scene close after seeing the Wicked: For Good trailer, because it signals a major tonal shift for all the characters. Take a look below:
Rather than Fiyero simply being the charismatic prince that gets the students of Shiz to break some rules and go out dancing, in For Good he’s become the Captain of the Wizard's Guard who’s still caught in a love triangle between Glinda and Elphaba. Thank goodness Wicked: For Good is among the 2025 movie releases! The movie hits theaters on November 21.
In the meantime, I'll just be picturing Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande headbutting and the actor promptly running away after it happened.
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