‘Wicked’ Star Michelle Yeoh on Singing ‘The Wizard and I’ and the Film’s Oscar Chances: ‘I Hope We’re in the Running for All of It’

variety.com:

Matt Minton mminton@variety.com Michelle Yeoh stopped by the Variety Lounge, presented by Film AlUla at the Red Sea Film Festival, where she chatted with Variety‘s London Bureau Chief Alex Ritman about working with director Jon M.

Chu on “Wicked,” her hopes for the film’s awards chances and the current whereabouts of her “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar trophy.

When Chu first approached Yeoh about starring in the film, she hadn’t yet seen the original Broadway musical. “Because he invited me to join ‘Wicked,’ I thought, ‘Well, first of all, I have to know what I’m going to be doing and why it has been around for 20 years,’” Yeoh said. “And when I saw it first in New York and then next in London, I think I very quickly caught on.

I understood the magic, the allure of ‘Wicked.’ Then I went to him, I said, ‘You know John, I don’t sing.’” Yeoh recalls the first time she sang “The Wizard and I” alongside Cynthia Erivo, who is a trained and professional singer: “I was not singing it out and was whispering it out to myself … [Erivo] just looked at me, she held my hand and said, ‘I know you can do this.