#interviews:2025

As Wicked fans head to movie theatres to see Wicked: For Good, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey performing "As Long As You're Mine" is being singled out by some as a highlight. From the acting and vocal skills of the stars, to the attention the "sex cardigan" is receiving, it's certainly a conversation point in the movie. And even Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz was taken by the moment.

"It's like one of the sexiest things ever filmed," Schwartz told reporters. "Part of it is [Jonathan] Bailey and Cynthia Erivo, but I mean, they're fully clothed for the whole thing. I think Johnny drops a suspender or something, and people are hooting at the screen, because it's so sexy. So that certainly changed my perspective about that song."

Bailey told reporters that it's a moment that he's really proud of in Wicked: For Good, while also praising Erivo as a collaborator for the scene, highlighting that they were both "locked in."

"Cynthia didn't just hold me up throughout that performance, but the whole audience as well," Bailey said. "That was a really brilliant example of, we came in and we had a couple of hours of rehearsal a week ahead of shooting it."

"And the biggest challenge there, yet again, is when exploring in close-up and in the extraordinary world that's now been built, how do you really make sense of what's happening between the two of them? They have to discover each other in a way that they've not ever been given the permission to. And it's the perfect chemistry or equation for a real sensual communication between two people who are kind of animal-like with each other. And I'm really proud of it. ... It's a great privilege just to sit and kneel in front of her while she sings in your face."

Bailey added that Wicked: For Good allowed the actor to discover just how "serious" Fiyero is and "completely changed" how he is from his reunion with Elphaba.

"I think his embodiment and his change and his transformation is about that thing that, as humans, we experience. You have to move through eras in your life, and in order to really become someone who stands by a moral code and a value system, you do have to let go of the ability to be frivolous, because suddenly things come into focus and they do mean a lot," Bailey said. "And I think I feel that, that's something that I really relate to, and I think I've given myself more permission to really care and to communicate how much I care."

Reflecting on his experience in Wicked and Wicked: For Good, Bailey highlighted that he's seen the "impact" of the performances from Erivo and Grande, particularly on younger audiences, while Bailey adds that he has also reconnected with his younger self and found his own sense of inspiration.

"I'm directly communicating to little me somehow, especially in going back to my roots, which was ballet," he said. "I trained as a ballet dancer, and singing is a great passion of mine, and I think I'm going into a singing era now, which is one that I never knew I would really fully embrace."

"Limiting narratives about what I thought was possible have all started to peel away, and what a time to be alive for me anyway, as an actor, to be able to play these roles that maybe wouldn't have been available to me five or 10 years ago."