Cynthia Erivo Reveals Her “Wicked” Character Elphaba’s Playlist: Kendrick, Beyoncé, Doja Cat

Cynthia Erivo Reveals Her “Wicked” Character Elphaba’s Playlist: Kendrick, Beyoncé, Doja Cat

hey welcome back everybody ladies and gentlemen my first guest tonight is an Emmy Grammy an Tony awardwinning actor and singer next week she will be headlining the Stonewall Day concert here in New York City please welcome back to the Late Show Cynthia arivo [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello hello hi hi nice to see you again it’s always loved to have you on um now from some people I’m sure many people already know this but you are going to be playing the part of alphaba in the new movie of wicked that comes out this November this which I want which I want to talk about which I want to talk about in in just a moment but the what just happened on Sunday night is that you presented with the original alphab izelle at the Tony Awards here in New York City and she this is actually a really lovely moment she took a moment to to say this I’m just going to go up scrip real quick to say how excited I am to see what I know is going to be an amazing performance in that movie that you’re doing I love you and I just want to say green girl power green girl power indeed had you guys talked about alphaba or Wicked before that moment no so that you saw like 5-year-old Cynthia come out and be like good thank you very much I couldn’t I didn’t know what to say which is why the only thing that came out of my mouth was I love you that’s all I could think of what you know what you know uh how many tonies have you been to now oh that’s about number seven or something I think the is it still fun is it stillz it’s one of my favorites I think there’s something really special about this particular show this particular uh award ceremony because everyone’s so uh in community i’ love it it makes me very happy the Broadway Community is very close to it’s actually a small group of theaters yes yes um now you’re heading back to the theater heading back to Broadway actually at Lincoln Center okay starting next week performing in a production of Steven sonheim a little nightm music yeah that’s exciting for those of us who are fans of you and fans of s time at the same time What well what was your introduction to S time uh being alive was probably like the Gateway from company for me from company yeah when did you hear that like how old were you I want to say I was about 17 or 18 yeah yeah before I’d seen the show and then I uh a wonderful friend of mine Adrien Lester played Bobby uh in the uh donma uh Ware house production of it and I had sneaked a preview of it on on YouTube which I was not supposed to do don’t do that but I loved it and I and I had fallen in love with that with the music that way yeah do you have a do you have a favorite sanheim lyric because the music is beautiful but the lyrics are extraordinary yes what what is it do you mind if I ask should I do you want to sing to you please if you would sing it that would be even better sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor not going left not going right I dim the lights and think about you spend sleepless nights and think about you you said you loved me or were you just being kind or am I losing my mind [Applause] now uh as I uh as I said here you are here you are as alphaba this is coming out coming out of Thanksgiving alongside Ariana Grande who is playing Glinda um what was it like working together had you guys done anything together before for this h no that was the first time we’ve done something together um and honestly it’s got it’s gotten Beyond a working relationship she’s like my my little sister um there’s just she’s just a really singular special being uh and we seem to have just like found this Kismet space for one another and working with her was was a dream just because we really just understood what we both needed in order to to play these characters to do this film and I lucky cuz I feel like I’ve wandered away with with a person who I love for Life yeah what how long have you been working on this because this is this is not this is not one we this is two the first one comes out in November how long has this process been it’s about been about a year we worked on it for about a year that’s a long time a movie together yeah um I understand that you make a playlist yes for yourself I do four characters that you’re going to portray yeah I’m curious what’s what’s what’s alaba’s playlist and is it you to get into that character or do you get in character to choose the music I I so I I think I get in the mindset of the character to choose the music and then I use the music to access the character every day right so I listen to it on the way to work so I make it and listen to it on the way to work it’s sort of Representative of this person’s personality and who she is who do you got what do you got on there so I’ve got some Kendrick [Music] Lamar I’ve got some Beyonce I have some DOA cat uh I have some snow algra I have there’s a really wonderful artist called cuabs on there um there’s uh a couple songs that I couldn’t say the lyrics of cuz because it’s a family show Family Show um but yeah there’s there’s you know I sort of messed around with like her her rage and her in you know insecurity and her love and all of those things so I tried to make a really varied playlist of who the the person is to listen to so after like doing that work and spending so time so much time with alphaba at this point um what what what what’s your kindred spirit with her where where are you guys connecting I think alpab has this wonderful way of having to reconcile with all of the pieces of herself I think when you meet her she’s trying so hard to to fit she knows that she’s she doesn’t fit but she tries her best to fit in with people and and she tries to hide some of the things that make her special and by by the end she sort of discovers all that she is and I think that’s the thing that I realize that you can only really give yourself fully if you are okay with who you are completely yeah well you’re you’re you’re you’re headlining the Stonewall Day concert on Pride weekend June 28th happy everyone and I’m just curious what what does pride and Pride weekend or pride month mean to Cynthia Revo in 2024 I think there’s a wonderful thing about Pride um in the celebrations that take place all over the country but I think for me pride is a reminder to everyone that we we when we come together and we fight for each other’s rights that’s when things get done and it’s also to to remind us that there are people who came before us who also were fighting um and also for me particularly there are so many young people who don’t see themselves and who are seeking for people to see themselves in and pride is a reminder to be that to be out loud to be yourselves fully so that young people who don’t see themselves get to see uh mirror images of themselves Cynthia thank you so much for being here it’s always lovely you can catch Cynthia o performing at the Stonewall Day concert here in New York City on Friday June 28th Cynthia Revo everybody we’ll be right back with Congressman Jamal Bowman [Music]

Emmy, GRAMMY and Tony Award-winning superstar Cynthia Erivo tells Stephen which artists are featured on the playlist she listened to when getting into character as Elphaba in the much-anticipated film adaptation of “Wicked.” Catch Cynthia performing at the Stonewall Day concert in New York City on June 28th and on stage in “A Little Night Music In Concert” at Lincoln Center.

#Colbert #CynthiaErivo #ALittleNightMusic #Broadway #Musicals #Wicked #Beyoncé #KendrickLamar #DojaCat

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Stephen Colbert brings his signature satire and comedy to THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT, the #1 show in late night, where he talks with an eclectic mix of guests about what is new and relevant in the worlds of politics, entertainment, business, music, technology and more. Featuring bandleader Louis Cato and THE LATE SHOW band, the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated show is broadcast from the historic Ed Sullivan Theater. Stephen Colbert took over as host, executive producer and writer of THE LATE SHOW on Sept. 8, 2015.