Danna Paola Voices Elphaba in LATAM Version of ‘Wicked’

The 2024 film adaptation of the popular musical Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, has won over audiences and become the highest-grossing musical adaptation of a Broadway play in history. Mexican pop star and actress Danna Paola voices Erivo’s Elphaba in the Spanish-dubbed version of the film, and Mexican singer and actress Ceci de la Cueva voices Grande’s Glinda. After months of speculation, Danna and de la Cueva confirmed the news that they would voice Elphaba and Glinda in Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation earlier this year in August.

“We’ve come here today to clarify all the rumors,” Danna said in Spanish in a video announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter, with de la Cueva at the time. “We’re going to return to the Emerald City as Elphaba and Glinda.”

This is a full circle moment for Danna and de la Cueva, who voiced those respective characters during Mexico’s first live production of Wicked in October of 2013. Over a decade later, the two Elphabas and Glindas met for the first time during the premiere of “Wicked” in Mexico City.

The musical Wicked was first performed on October 8, 2003 and is a loose adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The musical is told from the perspective of witches Elphaba and Glinda, who eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good in The Wizard of Oz, and explores their complex friendship.

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Danna has been part of Spanish-language media for most of her life and is known in Mexico for starring in children’s telenovelas like María Belén and La Niña de la Mochila Azul. When she was 17 years old, she took her career in a new direction and was cast in the Mexico City production of Wicked, becoming the youngest actress in history to take on the role.

Due to her age and telenovela past, her casting was heavily criticized at the time, with many questioning her ability to sing and take on the role. However, she proved critics wrong during the musical’s run, belting out “En Contra de la Gravedad,” the Spanish version of “Defying Gravity,” for nearly two years and 464 shows and drawing compliments from Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked:

“Danna Paola is a great star, she is a great singer, [and] what you will know when you see Wicked is that she is a wonderful actress with great stage presence,” he said at the time.