‘Wicked’ Spoiler Interview: Jon M. Chu on Expanding ‘Defying Gravity,’ Cutting Lines and Splitting the Musical in Two — Plus, Will Dorothy Pop Up in ‘Part 2’?

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Jon M. Chu counted himself a fan of “Wicked” long before he was hired to direct the big-budget movie adaptation of the popular Broadway musical.

So it was a question of where, not if, he should pay homage to Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the stage roles of Elphaba and Glinda, in the two-part film, the first of which landed in theaters on Nov.

22. After much deliberation among Oz’s powers that be, it was decided they would appear in the movie as the stars of Wizomania, an expanded show within the show that plays out when Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) visit the Emerald City during the song “One Short Day.” “I told them, ‘I want you to experience for the first time what you gave us.’ I saw Idina and Kristin as they were workshopping the show at the Curran Theatre [in 2003].

I’ll never forget being blown away by their performances,” Chu recalls, lounging on the couch at Manhattan’s Bowery Hotel in an appropriately green sweater. “When they were on set, I think reality hit them and it was very full circle for them.” “Wicked,” which introduced such classics as “Defying Gravity,” “Popular” and “For Good” into the Broadway pantheon, recounts everything that happens before Dorothy lands in Oz and saunters down that iconic Yellow Brick Road.