Kristin Chenoweth Reveals ‘Wicked’ Plot Was Tweaked to Focus More on Female Friendship

The musical Wicked is known for its story about a strong female friendship, but according to original star Kristin Chenoweth, it almost didn’t end up that way.

“The love story is really between the two girls. It’s about their bond,” Chenoweth, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly while raising awareness about chronic migraine through her partnership with AbbVie. “It didn’t start out that way, the show, so Idina [Menzel] and I feel really blessed that we were a part of something that we're able to really put a stamp down in this world of musical theater.”

Wicked is based on the novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire. The story serves as a prequel to L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and explains how the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and the Good Witch of the North (Glinda) came to be.

While the musical adaptation opted to focus on the two women’s friendship, the novel centers more on political turmoil in the fictional land of Oz and Elphaba’s relationship with Fiyero, a former classmate and prince. Fiyero is also featured in the musical as a love interest for both Elphaba and Glinda, which causes some tension in their friendship.

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Chenoweth and Menzel, 52, portrayed Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the original cast of Wicked. Prior to the 2003 Broadway premiere, the show had a three-month-long preview run in San Francisco.

“I knew the show had problems in the beginning, but when the audience came the very first night, I looked at Idina after the show was over and I said, ‘It's not going to matter what the critics say. We have a hit because the people have spoken,’” she explained to Us. “And we did make improvements, the show got better and better, which is what you do in an out-of-town tryout. But I knew it wasn't going to matter because it just spoke to people.”

Wicked went on to win three Tony Awards in 2004 and has become one of the longest-running shows on Broadway. Part 1 of the musical’s two-part movie adaptation will hit theaters on November 27, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.

Having known Grande, 30, since the pop star was 10 years old, Chenoweth shared with Us that she encouraged Grande to do her own spin on the character for the films. “[I told her], ‘Do you. Do your Glinda. I did mine. Now it’s your turn,’” she shared. “And I hope that gave her the freedom.”

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As Chenoweth gears up to debut her new musical The Queen of Versailles — written by Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz — in July at the Emerson Colonial Theater in Boston, the Tony Award winner got candid with Us about her struggles with chronic migraine. Chenoweth recalled spending “three days” in a hotel room after suffering a severe migraine on stage when she was 25.

Kristin Chenoweth, McKenzie Kurtz, Alyssa Fox and Idina Menzel at the "Wicked on Broadway 20th Anniversary Celebration"

“I was lucky enough to have my doctor actually say, ‘I think we should try Botox.’ And I said, ‘No, I'm an actor. I want to move my face.’ He goes, ‘No Botox for migraine. Lean back.’ And I had two choices, retire or lean back on that table and let him do his job,” she shared, adding that Botox has “changed my whole life.”

Neurologist Dr. Hope O’Brien, founder and CEO of Headache Center of Hope, added: “[There’s this stigma] where women just stay silent because they don't want anybody to know that they have this condition because it's oftentimes thought about as being weak. … So many women just go and push through and go years and years without being diagnosed with chronic migraine, which by the way, just in case you don't know, is a condition that affects 4 million Americans here in the U.S.”

With reporting by Aileen Bergin