London transformed into Emerald City for film premiere

London’s South Bank has been transformed into the Emerald City for the European premiere of Wicked.

Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldbum were among the cast to brave the rainy weather.

The film is an adaptation of the stage musical which tells the origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.

Like the Barbie press tour last year, the cast have been method dressing – wearing colours similar to their character in the film.

It was filmed in the UK, and the Wicked cast told the BBC they were excited to be in the capital for the premiere, with Cynthia Erivo, who plays the green witch Elphaba, saying “she’s finally back home”.

Her co-star Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda, said the south London actress had helped her improve her British accent while filming.

Both of them said they were “excited” that stories about witches are having a resurgence and “people really need a sisterhood and community”.

The film explores the complex friendship that evolves between the two witches at Shiz University.

Michelle Yeoh, who plays Madame Morrible, admitted to not having seen the musical until she was cast in the film.

“I had never seen it and when I found out it was a musical I thought this is wrong because I can’t sing.”

Having seen the musical after being cast she said she “understood the hype”.

“There’s a certain universality to the story – I saw old people, young people, women and men and everyone loves it.

“I met one man who had seen it 12 times and he said he loved it even more every time”.

Jeff Goldblum, who plays the wizard, said he took his children to see the show in London recently and “they loved it”.

They are now “very excited” by the prospect of their dad having a role in the film.

The new film explores themes of acceptance, tolerance and how society treats animals – topics that the cast agree “couldn’t be more relevant to today”.

The two-and-a-half hour musical film is just part one of the story, with the second part due to be released next November.