The artist credits herself as Ariana Grande-Butera, which she refers to as her “little girl name,” for her role in ‘Wicked.’
Simply refer to her as Ariana Grande-Butera.
The 31-year-old artist known for her hit song “imperfect for you” has shared her reasons for choosing to credit her birth name in the upcoming film adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway musical Wicked.
The singer and her co-star Cynthia Erivo, 37, engaged in a conversation with podcaster and journalist Justin Hill, who pointed out that Grande is recognized by her “full grown-up name” on screen, adding, “I wanted to know the symbolism of the importance of that for you.”
“Technically, it’s my little girl name. It’s technically little [Ari’s] name,” she replied. Grande is the surname of her mother, Joan, while Butera belongs to her father, Ed. The couple ended their marriage when their daughter was just 8 years old.
“I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me. I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda, from Elphaba,”
she remarked, alluding to the roles she and Erivo portray.
“That was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old, and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that. It felt really full-circle.”
Wicked explores the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West, a legendary character from L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Before the notorious figure we recognize today, she was once young Elphaba Thropp (Erivo), a quiet and misunderstood girl marked by her green skin and extraordinary abilities. At Shiz University, she encounters her fellow student Glinda (Grande), who dreams of becoming a sorceress.
The Broadway musical, inspired by the Gregory Maguire book of the same name, made its debut on the Great White Way in 2003.
Shortly after the show’s premiere, Grande attended with her grandmother Marjorie and had the opportunity to spend time with Kristin Chenoweth, the original Glinda.
Feature Image Credit: (Instagram/@arianagrande)
