Ariana Grande opens up about the end of filming for ‘Wicked’

Ariana Grande offered fans a raw behind-the-scenes look at her final day of filming as Glinda in her iconic magical bubble.

“Wicked: Part One,” the film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, features Grande as Glinda the Good Witch alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West. In a nod to the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” Grande’s Glinda makes a grand entrance to Munchkin country inside a floating bubble, kicking off the film in stunning fashion.

Ariana Grande also got emotional on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on Dec. 5 when she was presented with a special piece of movie history: the original magic wand used by Billie Burke as Glinda in “The Wizard of Oz.”

In a behind-the-scenes video shared to Instagram by Ariana Grande and director Jon M. Chu, the actress is seen tearfully reacting to her final day of filming as Glinda inside her magical bubble. Dressed in her elaborate pink dress inside the bubble, Grande responds to Chu’s question about how she feels with: “Horrible. Awful.”

“I’m not going to get up,” says the “very emotional” Grande in the clip. “I really need to call my therapist. “This is a disaster.”

When asked by Chu for her first impression of the bubble accessory, Grande humorously replies, “I thought it was beautiful, but I also thought it was a karaoke booth.” The video concludes with a montage of moments from their final day of filming on the vibrant Munchkinland set.

Grande captioned the video, “trying to say goodbye to my bubble after we finished filming my final scene in it (just in the bubble, not the movies final scene!) which is actually one of the first ones you see.”

“The attachment I felt to my wand and my bubble was comically overwhelming (feel free to laugh)!” she continued. “We spent many, many long, beautiful days here, in the sun, in the freezing rain, and in the wind. We sang, we laughed, we shared tearful, complicated, and silly moments alike. These props and physical pieces of your puzzle remain so… a lot!!!!!!!”

The actress then called her bubble “a home away from home” and “a protective shell.” “(It was) a quiet, safe place for all your little secrets and truths.”

“His wand filled a void in his heart, gave him a sense of purpose, strength and magic, even if that magic was in his head,” Grande explained. “I often miss these physical parts of her. Sorry, this caption sounds like literal praise.”

“I, we all, we all cry every day,” Grande shared on Broadway Podcast’s “Network’s Sentimental Men” podcast. Giving a special shout-out to Wicked director Jon M. Chu and co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer reflected, “Everyone cried. “It was really beautiful.” With a touch of humor, he added: “That was terrible.”

Later in the podcast, the actress revealed, “I love Judy Garland, and I’ve always been a big ‘Wizard of Oz’ person,” adding that she remembers being stunned by “the untold story of the witches of Oz” at that age. 10.

During her visit to Broadway, Grande not only saw the show but also had the opportunity to meet Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweththe original Elphaba and Glinda, during a backstage tour. “Idina gave me a little green bracelet” and Chenoweth “gave me a little wand, which feels so complete and crazy. And a body wash that had glitter in it, and she said it was magical. And now I really think it was!” “

Before being cast, Grande did not do a chemistry read with Cynthia Erivo, whom she described as “the best and most formidable actress and singer there is.”

He added that the two made a pact when they met to “get to know each other in that way, where I can just look at her and know what she’s thinking… because without that, nothing else works.”