After what feels like a lifetime, Wicked the movie is finally upon us. Jon M. Chu’s highly anticipated film adaptation of the hit stage musical—itself a loose adaptation of the Gregory Maguire novel that imagines the events preceding the classic Wizard of Oz story—finally premieres Friday, capping off 14 years of development, nearly two years’ worth of movie-related gossip, and nine months of official promotion. The whole rollout has been elaborate and pervasive, with scores of standard Q&As as well as the gimmicky press-cycle stops that have stars eating incredibly hot wings or taking lie-detector tests. But it has also been extremely emotional, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the film’s leads, Ariana Grande (who plays Galinda, aka Glinda the Good) and Cynthia Erivo (who plays Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West).
Seriously, if you ask the co-stars anything about each other, it seems you’re highly likely to be greeted with tears before you get an answer. In every clip circulating online of every interview that sees the stars promoting Wicked, the duo can be seen lovingly clutching each other’s hands and talking through tears about how much they love each other. Here’s them getting emotional during their Vanity Fair lie-detector test after Grande confesses that Erivo has been her favorite collaborator. Here’s them crying when asked how they have each changed each other. Here’s them crying some more when discussing their connection. They’ve got the waterworks going even when not talking about each other, like when Grande cried while discussing the importance of using her full name in the film’s credits, or when Erivo received kudos from a fellow performer who is a superfan of the stage musical.
Why all the tears? Grande and Erivo have offered one explanation—alongside an apology—on the red carpet, proclaiming, “It’s been three years, people!,” and elaborating that there are many emotional things that they’ve had to repress for that lengthy period of time. (Grande even jests, “Why does emotional availability scare you so?”) But there’s another, even simpler explanation behind all the melodrama surrounding Wicked, from Grande and Erivo’s weepy media appearances, to the messy headlines the cast has inspired within the past two years. Two words: theater kids.
Theater kids, for those unaware, are exactly what they sound like, plus so much more. In the classical sense, they are people—typically teens—who are big fans of theater (particularly musicals) and participate in theater club as the cast and crew of school stage productions. Theater kids are an oft-maligned demographic because of the way their big personalities and talents, which are quite fitting onstage, translate offstage. Remember when everyone was obsessed with flash mobs? That was peak theater kid, for a theater kid, and theater-kid mentality, is defined by the assumption—nay, the strident belief—that their talents are worth seeing in any situation or context. As such, theater kids tend to be over the top, highly emotional in private and in public, never hesitating to break into song or be obnoxiously silly at a Denny’s. And yes, just like in any small, dedicated community, young thespians of the stage tend to date one another and have ever-evolving relationship drama as they move from production to production. I know this all sounds like the most irritating stuff in the world, but take it from a theater kid herself: The dramatics actually make sense when you think about what the end result is! Baring your soul onstage in vulnerability, making lifelong memories with your fellow actors and crewmates, the blood-raising glare of the stage lights … no wonder theater kids are always crying.
Let us not forget that before Grande was a megafamous pop star, before she was even a breakout actress on a Nickelodeon television show, she was a theater kid. The “thank u, next” singer charmed in a local production of Annie at 8 years old, and landed her first big gig at 15, as an original cast member of the Broadway musical 13. Though she swiftly moved onto the screen (in the teen show Victorious) and up the charts (with a handful of high-selling albums), Grande remains known for her love of the stage, still managing to do projects like 2016’s Hairspray Live! She is also, famously, a mentee of Kristin Chenoweth, Broadway’s original Galinda, and has commented on Galinda being her dream role since she first saw Wicked as a tween. If Grande’s Broadway tenure and her musical legend of a mentor weren’t enough to prove her theater-kid bona fides, Grande has also shown a breadth of musical knowledge that only a true stan of the stage could possess. But if you really want to interrogate Grande’s status as a card-carrying member of the Young, Insufferable Thespian Association, look beyond her résumé. Remember when I mentioned that theater kids are known for always sleeping in the same circles? Well, in July 2023, shortly after news broke that Grande was separating from her husband, Dalton Gomez, it was reported that she had begun dating her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, who plays the Munchkin Boq in the film. The news sent shock waves across tabloids and chat boards not only because of the fuzziness of their relationship timeline—the Slater–Grande rumors emerged days after the announcement of Grande’s separation—but also because Slater, who is most famous for originating the titular role in the Tony-nominated SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, was, as far as the public knew, happily married to another woman, Lilly Jay, at the time. It wasn’t until about a week after the rumors started flying that Slater filed for divorce from Jay.
But don’t get it twisted: Erivo is just as much of a theater kid as her co-star. Though Grande’s relationship remains the juiciest Wicked scandal, controversy was stoked again when Erivo infamously ranted online about her displeasure with some fan art. The film’s production team had released a Wicked poster clearly referencing the famous original Broadway illustration, but with some slight changes, showing Erivo staring directly into the camera with her green-tinted lips set into a hard line. When a fan edited the live-action poster to more closely resemble the original illustration—the brim of the witch’s hat pulled down, lips curled up into a smirk—Erivo posted a scathing statement to her Instagram Story, calling it the “wildest, most offensive thing” she has seen, “equal to” an A.I.–generated video of her and Grande fighting and a sexually explicit joke about Elphaba’s green skin that has become a meme. Erivo claimed that the “deeply hurtful” image “degrades” her and Grande, further stating: “To edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me.” Her severe response has since become something of a meme itself. Hyperbole, dramatics, a harsh overreaction—par for the course for a theater kid. Trust, the British actress has also earned the title due to her accomplishments, from her bachelor’s degree in acting, to her incredibly deep history of stage performance, to her Tony Award. Erivo’s real theater-kid status is affirmed by her accolades and her proclivity for sharing her opinions unapologetically and passionately, no matter whose feathers they ruffle.
Divorces, public rants, and tears, oh my! What did I tell you? All of this is totally normal for this subculture. Causing relationship drama and going on a self-important rant about how you’re perceived in an art form in which you tend to put too much emotional stock in every little choice? Find me a resident of the stage who hasn’t! So next time you find yourself baffled by a bout of Wicked red-carpet weeping, just remember, this can all be explained by one of the most divisive phrases in the English language: theater kid.