Cynthia Erivo has revealed how she was made green to play Elphaba in the long-awaited musical adaptation of Wicked. 

Opening up about the intense transformation she had to undergo each day for the role, the actress, 37, explained it could take up to four hours to cover her in paint as she admitted no CGI was used. 

Starring in a new NBC programme тιтled Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked, the one hour special went behind the scenes and followed Cynthia and her co-stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey, as well as Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh as they filmed the highly anticipated musical. 

In one segment Cynthia shared behind the scenes sH๏τs from her phone of her sitting in the makeup chair as she was hand painted green. 

The star explained: ‘When you put the costume on, when you put the shoes on and we’re supported by all these artists, it just takes it to the next level.’ 

Bridgerton star Jonathan, who plays Fiyero in the film, joked: ‘You were actually green every day.’ 

Cynthia Erivo has revealed just how she was made green to play Wicked’s Elphaba in behind the scene sH๏τs from a new NBC special

Opening up about the intense transformation, the actress, 37, explained it could take up to four hours to cover her in paint as she admitted no CGI was used

Cynthia added: ‘That’s very true I knew that if I looked at myself and didn’t see the green I don’t think I could have made the connection to her. 

Read MoreEXCLUSIVE Wicked fans stunned as Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum make a surprise appearance

‘And something happens when all of that green in on. The freckles go on, the hair goes on, the make-up goes on, the eyes go on and it’s not me I’m looking at, it’s her. 

‘But also something happens when you walk into a room, especially when you have lots of background artists and they meet you and you’re green! The DNA in the space.’

Jonathan added: ‘I agree, the energy shifts.’

Meanwhile lead hair and makeup artist for the film Frances Hannon, revealed in an interview with Elle magazine just how important it was for the green to look authentic. 

She explained: ‘ It was very important that the green be real-looking. They did discuss possibly doing the green in post-production in the very early days, but Cynthia was quite adamant that she wanted to go onto the set green every day.’

Revealing just how long it took in an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday, Cynthia confesses it would take as long as four hours to greenify her. 

She told the host: ‘It really depended on how much green we were using. So if it was just hands, head, neck it would be two hours 45 minutes to three hours. 

тιтled Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked, Cynthia was joined by her co-stars Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey in the special for a behind the scene look at the film  

Cynthia’s Elphaba look was completed with freckles and prosthetic ears 

The transformation could take up to four hours 45 minutes depending on how much of Cynthia’s body needed to be covered 

She added: ‘If I looked at myself and didn’t see the green I don’t think I could have made the connection to her’

Cynthia shared behind the scenes sH๏τs from her phone of her sitting in the makeup chair as she was hand painted green and fitted with her wig 

Even her hands were completely covered in the paint for the role 

The film will premiere in theatres worldwide on November 22

‘If it was like head arms, chest and legs it could take three and a half hours and if it was full body it was four hours and 45 minutes every morning before I got on set.’

The star also revealed she wore prosthetic ears for the role to avoid having to take her piercings out each day for filming. 

‘In each of my ears in total I think there are 27 piercings in my ears all together so to save time they would let me put flat studs in my ears and then they would but a prosthetic ear over it.’ 

Meanwhile Wicked fans were left stunned when leading ladies Ariana Grande and Cynthia made a surprise appearance at a screening held at Odeon in Leicester Square on Tuesday night. 

The pair, who play Glinda and Elphaba in the musical adaptation, headed on stage to present the film alongside Jeff Goldblum, who plays the wizard, much to the delight of cinemagoers. 

Just a day earlier the cast had hit the red carpet for the UK premiere, which will hit theatres worldwide on November 22. 

Addressing the cheering audience, Cynthia, 37, said: ‘Thank you for being here tonight we hope you enjoy this movie that we made. 

‘A lot of love went into this, a lot of tears and laughter and all of that good stuff. We are very proud to presenting this to you today.’ 

Wicked review: It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible, writes BRIAN VINER

Wicked 

The Royal Festival Hall in London must have seen some sights in its 70-odd years but possibly nothing quite like Monday evening’s European premiere of Wicked, at which the lucky members of the audience were those not seated behind the drag queens dressed as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. 

There were a lot of them, and they all seemed to be at least 6ft tall, not even taking account of the beehive hairdos.

The stage musical Wicked, notional prequel to The Wizard Of Oz, by all accounts has a huge gay following and Jon M Chu’s eagerly-awaited film adaptation, conspicuously targeted at least partly at the same demographic, is a riot of camp. 

When it finally came to an end on Monday evening, a rapturous standing ovation all but raised the roof.

It had been a long time building. Chu’s exuberant film lasts two hours and 40 minutes, and leaves the story only half-finished. 

Wicked Part Two is scheduled for release this time next year.

Jon M. Chu also makes the most of all available cinematic bells and whistles. It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible

It begins at the end, with Glinda (Ariana Grande) announcing to the long-suffering people of Oz the death of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo)

I saw the musical on Broadway not long after it first opened (my wife and I extravagantly took our three children, which as I recall cost about the same as a medium family saloon). 

From what I remember of the original, the film cleaves to it very closely – unsurprisingly, as one of the screenwriters is Winnie Holzman, who wrote the stage version. 

But Chu also makes the most of all available cinematic bells and whistles. It’s a fabulous spectacle, which demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

It begins at the end, with Glinda (Ariana Grande) announcing to the long-suffering people of Oz the death of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), better known as the fearsome Wicked Witch of the West. 

But then some impertinent citizen raises the rumour that she and Elphaba were once friends. It is true, she confirms. And so back we are whisked to their respective origin stories, and to the way in which they first bonded.

As anyone who has seen the stage musical will be aware, Wicked cleverly evokes The Wizard of Oz by exploring how the kindly but misunderstood Elphaba discovers her dark side and how the manipulative Glinda finds her inner goodness. 

It’s simply a variation of of Ray Bolger’s Scarecrow looking for a brain in the unforgettable1939 picture, and Jack Haley’s Tin Man looking for a heart.

To the outside world, alas, and even to her own parents, Elphaba is defined by the fact that she was born green. 

The Royal Festival Hall in London must have seen some sights in its 70-odd years but possibly nothing quite like Monday evening’s European premiere of Wicked

Chu and the writers have enormous fun with all this and are superbly served by the cast: Erivo and Grande are both pitch-perfect and altogether sensational (pictured)

Her father, the governor of Munchkinland, can hardly bear to look at her, and it is really by accident that she gains a place at Shiz University, where Glinda is among the same student intake.

There, the only person to recognise the decency and talent in Elphaba, and Glinda’s inner slyness, is college principal Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). 

The absurdly handsome Prince Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), while at first appearing to fall for the enticingly enigmatic Elphaba, soon has his head turned, like almost everyone else, by the dazzlingly pretty, popular Glinda.

Chu and the writers have enormous fun with all this and are superbly served by the cast: Erivo and Grande are both pitch-perfect and altogether sensational. 

I confess to finding Wicked’s songs a little repeтιтive but it’s hard to imagine anyone delivering them better than those two, while Grande has proper comedic flair, which she brings to bear every time Glinda tosses her luxuriant tresses. 

Yeoh, Bailey and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard offer splendid support.

There will doubtless be suggestions that it’s all a bit derivative, and certainly Hogwarts got there first as a school of sorcery; inevitably, there are numerous parallels. 

But it’s done with such tremendous pizazz, and the sets and costumes are so gloriously, preposterously, over the top, that I just about forgave the insanely long running-time and didn’t even object when a drag queen built like a prop forward, wearing a pink taffeta dress, leapt up with such excitement at the end that he elbowed me in the eye.