Yahoo Lifestyle This Is Why Ariana Grande Flying To Her Hometown For 24 Hours Just To Watch "Wicked" With Her Nonna Is Even More Poignant Than You Might Think
The very first time that Ariana Grande encountered the phenomenon that is Wicked was back in 2003, when she and her grandmother, Marjorie Grande — affectionately known as “Nonna” — went to watch the original stage show.
Ariana was just 10 years old at the time, and previously told People: “My chemistry as a person permanently altered,” adding that she can separate her life into “two chapters: before and after seeing Wicked.”
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’re probably aware of the fact that Ariana plays Glinda in the movie adaptation of the show, which was released last week.
The star has made no secret of just how special this role has been to her, and her emotional attachment to Wicked has been evident since it was first announced that she had been cast in the movie back in 2021.
And in a beautiful full circle moment, the star revealed on Monday that she had flown back to her home city of Boca Raton, Florida, for just one day so that she could watch the film with Nonna at the movie theater she grew up going to as a child.
Nonna turned 99 years old last month, and it is thought that she was unable to travel to attend any of the official premieres around the globe.
Taking to her Instagram story, Ariana shared photos of her and her brother, Frankie Grande, with their Nonna in the movie theater — also revealing that they had been joined by her boyfriend and costar, Ethan Slater.
Tagging Ethan and Frankie in the post, Ari wrote: “flew to boca for a day to watch with Nonna at the movie theater i grew up going to every weekend, Cinemark 20 in Boca.”
Sharing a photo of herself and Nonna holding hands in matching pink sweaters while intently watching the film, Ariana tagged Wicked’s director, Jon M. Chu, as she wrote: “thrilled to report when the sugar glider had her drum solo nonna exclaimed loudly: ‘oh I LOVE that.’"
She also posted a video of Nonna looking overwhelmed with emotion and pride while watching Ariana’s standout performance of “Popular.”
Frankie reposted one of Ariana’s stories to his own social media page, writing: “This was one of the most special moments in my life. I will remember it & cherish it til I’m 99 too.”
And the whole thing has fans feeling pretty emotional — especially after it was pointed out that Nonna is actually old enough to remember when the original Wizard of Oz was released back in 1939.
For context, Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Taking to X, people shared their amazement at the concept that Nonna may have watched the original movie as a teen and had no idea that one day her own granddaughter would a part of that same universe.
Reacting to the family’s wholesome cinema trip, one viral tweet reads: “what's crazy to me is that nonna was born in 1925, fourteen years before the wizard of oz was released so she's been around long enough to witness the land of oz welcoming both judy garland and her grand daughter 😭”
This has been seen more than 2 million times, and racked up more than 100,000 likes, retweets, and replies as others shared their reaction to the post.
A tweet that has been liked more than 220k times echoes: “Ariana Grande's granny was born in 1925. She would have been 14 when the Wizard of Oz came out. It's truly mind-blowing to imagine living through that fanfare as a teenager not knowing almost 100 years later your own granddaughter would be starring in a Wizard of Oz movie.”
Welp. I don’t know about you, but this has got me right in the feels — let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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