Kristin Chenoweth originated the role of Glinda 20 years ago on Broadway, but now she's given Ariana Grande her blessing to take on the role in the Evil film. There's even a cameo from Chenoweth in Evil as a member of the Emerald City Players. In a meta moment, Chenoweth wanders through the crowd, encouraging everyone to sing, and stops to address Grande's Glinda directly. When Glinda goes to sing, Chenoweth covers her mouth with her hand, a nod to her time as Glinda, a character who loved being the center of attention.
While Chenoweth's musical participation in Evil was already emotional, the scene is actually much better because it's not just a passing of the wand, but a musical reunion between Grande and Chenoweth. Nearly a decade before Grande joined the cast of Evilshe was in Live hairspray!which also starred Chenoweth, doing their scene together in Evil this is much more significant.
Kristin Chenoweth and Ariana Grande starred in Hairspray Live! Before Evil
Chenoweth played Velma Von Tussle and Grande played Penny Pingleton
Live hairspray! is one of the network's best live musicals, and among the cast were Chenoweth and Grande. Chenoweth seemed to have a lot of fun playing the antagonistformer beauty queen Mrs. Velma Von Tussle. Chenoweth's small size and angelic voice make Velma's cartoonish snobbery and elitism all the more surprising. Velma is like Glinda if she never learned to have empathy. Velma doesn't share much screen time with Grande's Penny Pingleton, but in their limited interactions, Velma dominates Penny. Their interactions are eerily reminiscent of how Chenoweth's Emerald City Player comically silences Grande's Glinda. Evil.
Live hairspray! Proved that Ariana Grande was perfect to be Glinda after Kristin Chenoweth
Grande could sing, dance and laugh in a live performance
Grande brought her sweetness and comedic charm to Live hairspray!It's Penny Pingleton. Penny is a secondary character who can disappear from the cast without the right casting, but Grande made the character stand out. When Penny's best friend Tracy Turnblad (Maddie Baillio) says her dream is to audition, Penny responds that it's her dream to “watch” Tracy audition. The unequivocal support is similar to how happy Grande's Glinda is when Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) gets the invitation to meet the Wizard in Evil. Glinda's powerful friendship with Elphaba was initiated by Chenoweth and Grande manages to develop it.
Grande brings a certain level of heat to flirting with her love interestSeaweed J. Stubbs (Ephraim Sykes), who many versions of Penny play mostly for laughs. When Seaweed invites Tracy to his house because she fainted, Penny takes the opportunity to get an invitation by pretending to faint as well. This masterminding flirtation recalls Glinda's first meeting with Fiyiero (Jonathan Bailey) when he arrived. Maybe because the film version of “Dancing through Life” was changed from the original Evil stage musical, but Grande's Glinda has more chemistry with Fiyiero than Chenoweth.
While playing Penny isn't an obvious path to becoming Glinda, Grande highlighted all of the skills she would use as Glinda in Evil. Grande was one of the standout performances in Live hairspray!dancing and singing perfectly live, which was important because Grande sang live in Evil. Live hairspray! proved that Grande has the comedic timing that Chenoweth infused into the role of Glinda, making Grande the worthy successor to Glinda's crown.