Ariana Grande Reflects on Emotional Moment after Wrapping Up Filming for ‘Wicked’

Ariana Grande offered fans a raw behind-the-scenes glimpse from her final day filming as Glinda in her iconic magic bubble.

“Wicked: Part One,” the film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical, features Grande as Glinda the Good Witch alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West. In a nod to the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” Grande’s Glinda makes a grand entrance into Munchkinland inside a floating bubble, kicking off the movie in dazzling fashion.

Ariana Grande also got emotional on “The Drew Barrymore Show” on December 5 when she was presented with a special piece of cinematic history: the original magic wand used by Billie Burke as Glinda in “The Wizard of Oz.”

In a behind-the-scenes video shared on Instagram by Ariana Grande and director Jon M. Chu, the actress is seen tearfully reacting to her final day filming as Glinda inside her magic bubble. Dressed in her elaborate pink gown within the bubble prop, Grande responds to Chu’s question about how she’s feeling with, “Horrible. Terrible.”

“I’m not getting up,” says the “very emotional” Grande in the clip. “I need to call my therapist, I really do. This is a mess.”

When asked by Chu for her first impression of the bubble prop, Grande humorously replies, “I thought it was beautiful but I also thought it was a karaoke booth.” The video concludes with a montage of moments from her final day filming on the vibrant Munchkinland set.

Grande captioned the video, “attempting to say goodbye to my bubble after we finished filming my final scene in it (just in the bubble, not final scene in the films!) which actually happens to be one of the first that you see.”

“The attachment I felt to my wand and my bubble was comically overwhelming. (please feel free to laugh)!” she continued. “Many, many long, beautiful days were spent here, in the sunshine, in the freezing rain and wind. We sang, we laughed, we shared tearful, complicated moments and silly ones alike. These props and physical pieces of her puzzle hold so much!!!!!!!”

The actress then called her bubble “a home away from home” and “a protective shell.” “[It was] a quiet, safe place for all of her little secrets and truths.”

“Her wand filled a void in her heart, it gave her a sense of purpose, strength and magic, even if that magic was somewhat in her head,” Grande explained. “I miss these physical pieces of her often. Sorry this caption sounds like a literal eulogy.”

“Me, everyone, we all cried every day,” Grande shared on the Broadway Podcast “Network’s Sentimental Men” podcast. Giving a special shoutout to Wicked director Jon M. Chu and her co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, the “We Can’t Be Friends” singer reflected, “Everyone cried. It was really beautiful.” With a touch of humor, she added, “So that was terrible.”

Later in the podcast, the actress revealed, “I love Judy Garland, and I’ve always been a huge ‘Wizard of Oz’ person,” adding that she remembers being stunned by “the untold story of the witches of Oz” at age 10.

During her Broadway visit, Grande not only saw the show but also had the chance to meet Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, the original Elphaba and Glinda, during a backstage tour. “Idina gave me a little green bracelet” and Chenoweth “gave me a little wand, which feels so full circle and insane. And a body wash that had glitter in it, and she said it was magical. And now I really believe that it was!”

Before being cast, Grande did not do a chemistry read with Cynthia Erivo, whom she described as “the best, most formidable actress and singer that there is.”

She added that the two made a pact when they met to “know each other in that way, where I can just look at her and I know what she’s thinking… because without that, nothing else works.”