To think there's something really off about this woman?

This is a wonderful piece about Cynthia taking the time to visit her old school. It's really quite touching to see how excited the girls are to see her and how emotional she gets about their admiration. What an inspiration she is for them.

This sprung to mind from the film hidden figures

Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), who claims she has nothing against Black people. Vaughan's simple and poignant reply, "I know you probably believe that",

No they're both behaving very off

Yes but in the original
film greenness wasn’t racialised. She was green because she was a witch. In the wicked films they try to make clunky (imo) political references to the real world. Some of the References do work I have to admit.

It's fine not to like Wicked. It's also fine for people to have different viewpoints to you. Otherwise, you couldn't have your view because it would be "implying" that I shouldn't have mine. See how this works?

And as a PP pointed out, Elphaba has been green for rather a long time....

I'm sure there were auditions for Wicked. I saw some clips of actresses who auditioned unsuccessfully. Erivo proved that she can absolutely do it and she's been critically acclaimed for her performance.

OP, I agree with you, I find watching the interviews with the two of them very strange and creepy.

Have you never seen The Wizard of Oz? The Wicked Witch of the West has been green since 1939.

I am not a fan of Wicked at all. And the green thing is one of many things about it that I don’t like. I find it an insult to people of colour and I am allowed to feel that. I don’t appreciate someone implying that I shouldn’t.

I don't see why, but at any rate, she's a magnificent actress and singer who's brilliant in the role, so there's nothing problematic to me.

Well part of the point is that in the original, the Wicked Witch of the West's skin colour is used as a sign that she's evil; she's green, to be fair, which no human is, but it's still pretty ripe for commentary because of course many humans are seen the same way even when they are indeed human coloured.

However, you don't have to make it relevant to you if you don't want to. Erivo is not the first black actress to play Elphaba, but most actresses to play her on stage have been white. And all of them have been painted green.

Thinking about it I feel that if they did cast her for that reason it is actually an insult.

I get casting her for her incredible singing but it just seemed so odd and clunky to me to use “greenness” as a metaphor for discrimination against people of colour. Well, I suppose green is a colour. I actually think it isn’t the casting of Erivo that bothers me, just the use of the colour green. It is odd to me. And I don’t see why someone should try to make me feel differently if that is what I feel.

Do you think that might have been part of the reason they cast her as a character who experiences discrimination due to her colour? (And her incredible acting and singing talent as well.) I'm just taking a wild guess here...

I think they're both acting oddly. They look anorexic, particularly ariana grande. Hope they're getting some medical intervention if so.

It's set in a magical land called Oz. It's not supposed to be a realistic depiction

I actually find the film Wicked so weird. They paint an actor green and say that she experiences discrimination because of it. The actress under the green paint is black. I am sure she experienced discrimination without being painted green.

They're both bonkers. I call them The Skeleton Sisters.

Expressing concern about weight loss of this magnitude is not 'body shaming' ffs. 🙄

I lost a dear friend and colleague to anorexia. It's a terrible disorder.

Well aren’t you all delightful, body shaming two women and assuming something is “off” as they have formed a strong bond. Why can’t women build each other up like these two do instead of punching down like the perfect women of Mumsnet.

Fair enough

I’m sure she’s great- but I looked up what she’d been in and I hadn’t actually seen anything (granted I live under a rock!).

Bear in mind some of us who don’t pay close attention will have missed her because she’s painted green in the various promo poster! That won’t have helped her visibility with people who don’t watch interviews etc.

Maybe because she's an incredible performer who when training was told to lend her voice to the more lead roles that were filled by persons more suited to the role by colour, because they couldn't sing as well as her.
And now she's getting hers and rightly so. She's incredible and her energy is a totally different level that a lot of people won't get

I thought the vibe around her on Strictly was weird. I had never heard of her but everyone on the show treated her like she was some sort of goddess. I probably would've turned it off if I had been watching on my own. The sycophantic behaviour of the judges and celebrities was nauseating.