“She defied gravity,” said Telsey.
The 38-year-old actress completed her three-hour audition with a high fever.
Wicked director Jon M. Chu: ‘Every person struggles with the same questions as our witches’
Cynthia Erivo had a fever during the audition
According to Telsey, it was a challenge to schedule a date where both Erivo and director Jon M. Chu could attend. “I remember she wasn’t feeling well, and it felt like this was the only day we had everyone in the room,” the casting director recalls. Ultimately, Erivo’s audition turned out to be a great success, after she “did really well.”
Erivo previously talked during the NBC special Wicked: one wonderful night that she spent four days in bed after her audition. The actress said she gave “everything she could”, but experienced the downside of this in the days that followed. “Everything I had left was in that room,” she reflected.