Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo to star in ‘Wicked’ movie

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are going to be a wicked combination.

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Photos: Ariana Grande through the years Here are some memorable photos of actress and singer Ariana Grande through the years. (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Grande and Erivo will be playing the main roles in Universal’s musical adaptation of “Wicked,” Variety reported Thursday.

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Grande will portray Glinda the Good Witch, while Erivo will play Elphaba, who is destined to become the Wicked Witch of the West, the website reported.

Grande and Erivo announced their upcoming roles in separate Instagram posts on Thursday.

A “Wicked” film has been in the planning stages at Universal since 2004, a year after it debuted on Broadway, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The play generated more than $1 billion in ticket sales, one of just three shows to do so, according to the website.

“Wicked” is an adaptation of the 1995 novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire, which tells of the friendship of Glinda and Elphaba before Dorothy lands in Oz. The tale is told from the perspective of the two witches, Billboard reported. Maguire’s book is a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for “Wicked,” and Winnie Holzman wrote the book for the play, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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