6 Taping Highlights Cut From NBC’s ‘Wicked: One Wonderful Night,’ Including Standing Ovation For Marissa Bode’s Mention Of “Power Hungry Dictators”
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from NBC‘s broadcast special Wicked: One Wonderful Night.
In anticipation of Wicked: For Good, NBC took audiences on a journey to the Emerald City Thursday night with its broadcast special, Wicked: One Wonderful Night.
The event featured performances from Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and the cast of Wicked, including special arrangements of songs from both acts of the musical from “No One Mourns The Wicked” to “I’m Not That Girl” to “For Good,” as well as exclusive interviews with the cast and sneak peeks of the two new songs in Wicked: For Good, “The Girl In The Bubble” and “No Place Like Home.”
There was also special duet from Grande and Erivo singing “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again,” previously performed by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland.
While the special aired just a few weeks before the premiere of the anticipated theatrical release of Wicked: For Good, it was actually taped at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on September 24 (with the exception of one special song, which we discuss below).
Deadline was in the audience, so we’ve compiled a few of the best behind-the-scenes moments from the taping that didn’t make it to air.
A lengthy standing ovation for Marissa Bode when she spoke of “power hungry dictators” in her “Defying Gravity” introduction
Perhaps the most glaring omission from the broadcast special was a lengthy standing ovation during Bode’s introduction for “Defying Gravity.”
“Wicked is filled with so many incredible songs, but there is one that stands out. It’s connected with so many people from all over the world. I’m talking of course about Defying Gravity. The song is an ode to authenticity and about believing yourself no matter what obstacles the world puts in your way,” she says in the final version of the special, before tossing to Erivo’s performance.
But that’s not quite how it went down in person. In the full intro, Bode spoke of how the song is also about toppling “power hungry dictators,” and the phrase seemingly struck a chord with the audience, as she was cut off for a significant period of time by a thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.
It’s hard to say exactly how long it went on for, since NBC didn’t allow any tech devices (including smart watches) into the venue, but it did force her to completely pause mid-sentence and wait for the crowd to regroup before continuing her lines.
We’ll let you fill in the blanks on what that was about, but clearly the NBCUniversal team didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, because it’s essentially entirely cut out of the special.
Wicked and Wicked: For Good choreographer Chris Scott gets the audience involved in the opening number
Just like the film and the stage show, Wicked: One Wonderful Night opened with a rendition of “No One Mourns The Wicked.” The performance involves the audience, which chimed in during the bombastic “Good news! She’s dead!” proclamation at the beginning as well as with some fun choreography involving small bouquets of flowers later in the song.
What you didn’t see was Scott taking the stage before the taping officially got underway to teach the audience the choreography.
It took a few tries, but eventually the lower level audience got the hang of waving their flowers in the air as Grande sang, “And goodness knows, the wicked’s lives are lonely. Goodness knows, the wicked die alone. It just shows, when you’re wicked, you’re left only on your own.”
“Put your body into it!” Scott told the crowd as they practiced their best flower flicks.
Performances that were taped more than once
Similar to late night shows and other live events that are filmed prior to their TV airing, the Wicked: One Wonderful Night taping was shot somewhat out of order, and several moments were filmed multiple times to fix mistakes and, sometimes, just for posterity’s sake.
There were several songs that the cast performed more than once, including Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum’s rendition of “The Wizard and I” and Erivo and Grande’s “What Is This Feeling?” duet.
For the latter, production opted to switch up the song’s ending for a cheekier response to Elphaba’s attempt to scare Glinda. Grande exasperatingly responding to Erivo’s “Boo!” with “Alright, I get it.” For the record, they did film it the second time through with the traditional ending where Glinda yelps after she’s startled, though.
“Defying Gravity,” arguably one of the most magical moments of the show since Erivo flew around the Dolby Theatre during the climax of the song, was actually performed thrice. The first go-round did not feature Erivo on the rig as she began at the top of the stage and made her way down. After she finished the song, she was then attached to the rig to perform it two more times, likely so they could edit the entire thing seamlessly together in post-production. Movie magic!
Erivo and Grande also ran back their rendition of “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again,” but not because they messed anything up.
“We don’t want to go yet,” Ariana said to the crowd after they sang through it once, before closing out the taping with one more run through.
Groans from the audience every time the cast filmed the intro for something we didn’t get to see
While it certainly felt like audiences got to be in “The Room Where It Happened” for this special night, we did not get to see everything in advance — much to the audience’s chagrin. The cast filmed introductions for several parts of the special during that taping that would not be officially unveiled until the broadcasting airing on Thursday night.
That includes most of the interviews and sneak peeks from the upcoming film, as well as one of the most anticipated performances, Erivo and Grande’s version of “For Good.” There was good reason for that, since NBC made that moment even more heartfelt by filming it at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, where the musical has been performed since it opened on Broadway in 2003. The pair were also joined by the original Glinda and Elphaba, Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, who adjusted the lyrics to the third verse of the song to sing of “passing the torch” to their film counterparts. So all in all, it was a pretty incredible moment that was rightfully reserved for the broadcast airing.
That didn’t stop the moans and groans from the audience, though, who were at the edge of their seat as Bowen Yang and Ethan Slater filmed the intro only to learn that they’d have to wait a good six weeks to actually see the performance.
A “Hot To Go!” dance party
Chappell Roan, what are you doing here? In between performances, while the crew was breaking down and setting up on stage, there was a lovely MC keeping the crowd entertained. In addition to costume contests, hair toss competitions, and other crowd engagements, there were more than a few audience-led song and dance parties throughout the night.
The crowd got excited to hear “Soda Pop” from Kpop Demon Hunters as well as “Pink Pony Club” from Roan, but things got really lively when “Hot To Go!” emerged from the speakers. Nearly the entire Dolby Theatre was on their feet for that one as the MC led them through the “YMCA”-style dance.
Ariana Grande popping her head out to acknowledge the audience singing “thank u, next”
Another fun music moment happened when one of Grande’s own songs played between performances. Her 2019 single “thank u, next” elicited quite a reaction from the crowd, and since nearly everyone knew the words, the sound traveled all the way to Grande herself backstage. And what do you know? She popped her head out to smile and acknowledge the love before rushing back to prepare for the next set.
