Cynthia Erivo shared why she gave her Wicked character micro braids, using the hairstyle to honor Black women.
Erivo plays Elphaba Thorpe, eventually known as the Wicked Witch of the West, in this Wizard of Oz retelling. The film focuses on Erivo’s character and her relationship with Glinda, the future Good Witch, played by Ariana Grande. However, Erivo made stylistic choices that grounded her character even more in real life.
In Wicked, Elphaba faces discrimination her entire life due to her skin color. As a Black
woman, Erivo wanted her performance to represent herself and her relation to the character’s story. With this in mind, Erivo sought to switch up Elphaba’s original hairstyle. Despite most iterations featuring long, black, wavy hair, she chose a look that better aligns with her identity.Erivo chose to pay homage to Black women by selecting micro braids for Elphaba. She decided upon braids because they resembled the hair her character typically has, yet slightly differed in texture.
“I asked if we could reimagine that hair as
micro braids because I knew you’d still have the movement, and you could still have the length, but there was a texture that was slightly different to what you would normally see on stage, and it was a direct connection between me as a Black woman and Elphaba as a green lady,” the near-EGOT winning actress explained to Variety.Erivo is the second Black woman to star as Elphaba since the musical’s first major production in 2023, with its 2024 adaptation being the first to hit
theaters. The 37-year-old has spoken before about what this role means for her and other Black women. In a previous letter to the news outlet, she called the film and her character’s journey a “love letter” to those who have ever felt unwelcome.“I hope it’s a bit of a love letter to everyone who feels different, who feels out of place, to all of the Black women who have walked into rooms and felt like they haven’t been welcomed,” wrote Erivo in November. “To anyone who’s walked into a room and felt they haven’t been welcomed. I am glad to be the conduit through which this character has been brought to the world.”
Since then, Erivo has garnered considerable acclaim for her role, recently earning a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
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