Wicked Broadway music composer is considering changing one of the songs because of the movie

The Wicked movie has already made a huge splash and now it seems it may lead to a big change for the Broadway musical.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star as Glinda and Elphaba in Jon M. Chu’s big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical, which in turn was inspired by the 1995 book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire.

The musical looks at the origin story of the two powerful witches. Despite being from different backgrounds, the two forge an unlikely friendship that will steer the course of their lives.

The film features all the songs from the Broadway musical, composed by Stephen Schwartz. Following the overwhelmingly positive reception to the film, he's now considering carrying over an update made to the song 'Popular' over to the stage musical which originally debuted in 2003.

At the end of 'Popular', Grande sings in a higher octave and repeats the “la-la” line a few more times.

“One thing I would definitely have done and who knows, maybe after this we’ll put it into the stage musical, is the new end of ‘Popular’”, Schwartz told Buzzfeed UK. “Ariana really wanted to be true to the original song and be Glinda and not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.”

He also shared how Grande initially responded to the ideas for a new ending.

“When I came in with this new ending, she was at first hesitant. I said, ‘If I thought of this [ending] then, I would have done it.’ That’s the one that, I think, might find its way back into the stage musical,” he shared. “Using her soprano there. We just didn’t think of it while doing the show.”

Schwartz also revealed in a separate interview that he considered a new hip hop-inspired version of the song for Grande to sing, but this was quickly shot down by the ‘7 Rings’ hit-maker.

“In the spirit of being open to new things for the movie, my music team and I thought, let’s refresh the rhythm,” he told The Times. “Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit. Ariana said, ‘Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda’.”

Grande did, however, agree to the new ending. “I told her that if I had thought of it for the original show, this is how it would have been. Once she was reassured that this new bit of music was coming out of character, she was on board.”

It comes after the director of the new film hit back at claims the movie looks 'washed out' in cinemas.

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