Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Each Contracted COVID Days Before Their Biggest Wicked Musical Numbers

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were busy on the set Wicked. And the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help.

“Once I got Covid, it was the second time she got Covid,” Erivo, 37, revealed to The New York Times in an interview published on Wednesday, November 6.

Not only that, recalled Grande, 31, but all the actresses contracted the virus in the days before taping their biggest musical numbers: Erivo, who plays Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, sings the high point of closer “Defying Gravity,” while Grande as Glinda the Good Witch performs the bubbly song “Popular”.

“We only got sick once each, but they were both before some of the most important work in the whole movie,” he said “Yeah, and?” singer.

Ariana Grande wipes tears from Cynthia Erivo’s face during the emotion Wicked Moment of the interview: ‘That’s the point’

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Granda in ‘Wicked’.

Universal Pictures

While filming “Popular,” she added, “I came on set wearing a mask in the last days of my recovery… nobody liked this joke, but I did, so I’ll tell it: we were together in the dorm room and I was singing her ear, ‘Positive, you will be positive!’ But I wasn’t positive anymore, don’t worry I passed the test.”

For Eriv, getting COVID a week before filming “Defying Gravity” was a cosmic sign: “It was literally like, ‘Sit down, Cynthia, not yet.'”

Adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Tony-winning Broadway musical (itself adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel) directed by Jon M. Chu Wickeda revisionist prequel set in L. Frank Baum’s Oz) has also been delayed due to the Hollywood actors’ strike in 2023, as Erivo and Grande confirmed to times.

“At first it felt like a break, and then as it went, it felt like we needed a break,” Erivo recalled. “We worked ourselves to the bone. I was really grateful because the next thing we had to do [until the strike happened] was ‘Defying Gravity,’ and it felt like the universe was saying, ‘You need your full strength for this.'”

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Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on November 3.

BIANCA DE MARCHI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“It was funny, though, because no matter how much time passed, as soon as we got back into those clothes, the characters were right there with us,” Grande said, getting emotional when asked about wrapping up filming and leaving Glinda behind. “We cried every minute, every hour. We were both in a terrible state for a few days.”

Erivo said she was “devastated” after finishing filming Elphaba, adding: “I still love her fiercely.”

“Me too,” Grande said. “We brought home corsets, shoes and chopsticks. I still have all my wigs.”

Wicked Hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ in great first reactions: ‘It will make your mouth gag’

Wicked: Part One in cinemas on 22.11. Wicked: Part Two is set for release on November 26, 2025. Adapted by Holzman and Dan Fox, the film also stars Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Ethan Slater as Boq, Peter Dinklage as the voice of Dr. Dillamond and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible.

Buy PEOPLE Wicked special edition here.

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Source: HIS Education