Cynthia Erivo talks to All things taken into consideration host Scott Detrow.

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Nickolai Hammar/NPR

The musical has been around for more than twenty years Bad has been a Broadway favorite. Now, The Wizard of Oz prequel makes the shift from stage to screen. Since 2000, actresses across the country – and around the world – have played Elphaba, and the latest powerhouse singer to wear green face paint and carry that signature gravity-defying high pitch is Cynthia Erivo.

Erivo is no stranger to high notes. She made her broadway debut in 2015, starring as celie harris in the revival of The color purple – a role that earned her the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Erivo visited NPR’s studio in New York before the film’s release to join in the conversation All things taken into consideration host Scott Detrow on stepping into the iconic role.

All things taken into consideration presenter Scott Detrow in conversation with Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba Bad: part 1at the NPR studios.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Scott Detrow: From the first few seconds of the film, I was so blown away by the images and the world of Oz, and the way (the film) portrays it. I just wonder: what did it feel like to step onto that set in full costume and makeup and enter that world for the first time?

Cynthia Erivo: I mean, it was really overwhelming. And I think the beauty of doing it the way we do it is that everything is very practical. So (production designer) Nathan Crowley and his amazing set design team created the world of Oz, so when we were on set we were on set. Very little green screen, very little blue screen. You can touch it, you can feel it. It felt like you could disappear into the world, so to speak. I loved the feeling. It was very overwhelming. That very first day was a lot. (laughs)

Detrow: Going into this, I’m curious how much that was Bad the musical of The Wizard of Oz – how big did those two loom when you were growing up? You are a lifelong theater person, musical person…

Erivo: Evidently, The Wizard of Oz for me – was the first. It was a big part of my childhood. We watched it as a family. And in London you had Saturday films, weekend films, and they came on, I think it was Channel 4. And when I was at drama school, I think I was about twenty years old, that’s when I heard about Bad because I started learning the music. A friend of mine snuck into a piano room with me, and we sat at the piano and learned the libretto. By the time I left drama school at about 23, I knew the music like the back of my hand – and I’d never seen the show!

By the time I was 25, when I could afford a ticket to go to the West End, I bought myself a solo ticket and went on a date – it was my birthday – to see Bad. I think there’s something about a story – about a person who feels like they’re on the outside – being treated as if they’re different. That stuck with me. I got it right away.

Detrow: What do you think you would have thought at that moment if someone said, “And later you’ll star in the movie version of this, going all over the world talking about it”?

Erivo: I probably would have said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” You know, I hardly believed I was going to go to Broadway The color purpleso I don’t know if I would have believed them, to be honest.

Detrow: If you think about the themes of Badthere is a very powerful ‘us versus them’ current running through the film. Have you thought about how relevant that is at this particular moment?

Erivo: Yeah, and it keeps coming back about how relevant it is right now. But I don’t think that will ever change. I think it remains relevant. I think we keep being reminded of that. We still avoid certain people. We still don’t make room for people. But there is room for change. There is room for empathy, there is room for growth. So I think it will always be relevant. I think it was relevant when The Wizard of Oz came out, and I think it’s relevant right now.

Bad tells the origin story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo), and her friendship with Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande).

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Giles Keyte/Universal Photos

Detrow: This is a film that, as a musical, as you know, so many people connected with it so deeply, because so many people felt like outsiders in some way. What do you say to someone who has listened to that soundtrack 7,000 times because they feel like an outsider?

Erivo: I would say that the thing that makes you feel like an outsider is the thing that also makes you special. I’m definitely not like your cookie cutter, normal, everyday creature. I’m very different, you know? And it takes time to come to terms with that. But when you are, it’s very liberating.

There’s something about you. You are different, and that’s okay. And it might just be the thing that gets you exactly where you need to be. I don’t think that if I hadn’t understood what it’s like to feel different, what it’s like to feel outside, this (role) would have come my way. This is a huge moment and my dreams are coming true, but I think it definitely has something to do with how different I feel and have been, you know?

Be brave. You’ll be fine.