A live musical TV special featuring “Wicked” movie stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande singings songs from the Universal Pictures film is set to air on NBC this fall.
The “Wicked” special event will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles ahead of the Nov. 21 release of the sequel film, “Wicked: For Good.” The musical special will be broadcast live on NBC and stream the next day on Peacock.
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“Wicked” director Jon M. Chu announced the special Monday during NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall in New York, noting this is the first time that songs from the popular Broadway musical will be featured in this format on broadcast television.
“I am absolutely delighted to let you in on a centerpiece of our campaign for the second film, and it’s something that’s never been done in the 22-year history of ‘Wicked,’” Chu said. “This fall, our stars, the wonderful Cynthia Erivo and incandescent Ariana Grande, will be joined by their castmates and some wonderful surprise guests in a one time only event from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, they will perform live many of the songs from the first movie — and maybe a little bit from the second one as well, for a night of entertainment that we think will be, as they say in Oz, thrillifying.”
Chu then treated those in the room to a special sneak peek at the still unreleased trailer for “Wicked: For Good,” making everyone promise to put their phones away: “If you even reach for them, just know we’ve got fly monkeys staged all around the theater, and they take security very seriously. Believe me, you do not want to tangle with them.”
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