Feature: WICKED Star Cynthia Erivo on Elphaba’s Inner Life

Cynthia Erivo recently visited the Sundance Film Festival to accept its Visionary Award, stopping first at The Elvis Suite for an intimate conversation with film critic Elvis Mitchell.

BroadwayWorld was present in person for the private discussion, which centered on her Oscar-nominated role of Elphaba in the film adaptation of WICKED, comparing her with other women she has played such as Celie in THE COLOR PURPLE, for which she received a Tony, Grammy, and Emmy.

“No one is just one thing,” she said, describing how she tried to “find the pieces of light, of joy in these characters.”

She and Mitchell talked at length about Elphaba’s frame of mind during her “I want song,” “The Wizard and I.”  “She’s always looking for the best in people and the best in herself,” Erivo said. 

“I think she makes a decision to stop limiting herself,” she continued, noting that the first time we see Elphaba smile is during that song.  “What I love about smiling is it’s a relief,” she explained. “It’s like a breath – an actual breath.”

“I think for her, she keeps it away because she knows that she has the potential to be heartbroken,” Erivo said.  “So I think it's like keeping the warm center to herself, and she's not quite ready to share it with everyone else. It's like she's seeking someone who can hold the joy that she has carefully, not hurt her. And I loved playing that secret, loved that that's part of her. It's the same with Celie. Celie is hiding. It comes out in all those ‘Dear God’ moments.  You have the big songs, and then you have those moments where she comes right to the front of the stage and tells everybody what she's thinking, and it's filled with joy and excitement and laughter, and then it goes away, and she goes back to what she's doing every single day. The joy is a part of them, but it's almost like they aren't—they don't feel safe enough to share it broadly.”

“That’s what we are as human beings,” she added.  “We don’t tell everyone everything all the time.”

“Over time she has learnt to suppress, keep it quiet,” Erivo said. “And then when we meet her at the end, it’s all gone.”

“Her insecurity starts to disappear,” she explained.  “She becomes more and more sure of herself and sure of what she's meant to be doing, and that actually, I think, in real life, can be scary when you're faced with a person who knows exactly what they want, exactly where they're going, exactly how they have to get there. For other people, that can be terrifying, especially if you are not a person who knows where you're going, what you've got to do, and how you're going to get there.”