Cynthia Erivo came by The tonight show to discuss the pressure and joy of taking on the role of Elphaba in the upcoming film adaptation of Bad. At the end of her conversation with host Jimmy Fallon, Erivo shared a never-before-seen clip from the film teasing her performance of the beloved musical number “The Wizard and I.”

Fallon also convinced Erivo to preview her rendition of “Defying Gravity,” the Broadway musical’s most memorable song. The actress admitted that she ended up doing the song “a little differently” than how the song was written. “I’ve studied it,” she admitted. “When I first auditioned, I did that too. I did it as it was written.”

She added that the audition was “crazy” and lasted three hours. “I was very sick at the end,” she told Fallon. “The following week I spent four days in bed with a fever. It was the craziest weekend because I had sung at Disney Hall the night before.

Erivo said she did not audition with co-star Ariana Grande and did not know the singer was up for the role of Galinda until the casting was confirmed. “We had never met before,” Erivo said, adding that it felt like “instant chemistry.” “It was very easy,” she said of their relationship. “She was sweet.”

Elsewhere on the late night show, Fallon enlisted Erivo to play his “Musical Genre Challenge,” transforming “The Sound of Music” into R&B pop and Dream Girls’ “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” into opera.

Part one of Bad will be released in theaters on November 22, with part two on November 21, 2025. The soundtracks for both halves of the film will be released simultaneously. The film was directed by Jon M. Chu and also stars Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang and Peter Dinklage.