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Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo Belt ‘Defying Gravity’ Live at the Oscars, Plus ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and ‘Home’ in ‘Oz’ Medley
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the 2025 Oscars with a musical tribute to "Wicked."
After a tribute to Los Angeles, which is recovering from devastating wildfires, Grande opened the show with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” followed by Erivo belting “Home” from “The Wiz.” They joined forces to close the number with “Defying Gravity,” the showstopper at the end of the first act of “Wicked.” Though “Wicked,” a prequel (and sequel) of sorts to “The Wizard of Oz,” has a memorable soundtrack, it wasn’t ineligible for song consideration because all of the tunes were featured in the Broadway production. Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez,” a musical about a drug kingpin who undergoes gender affirming surgery, A24’s “The Brutalist,” a historical epic about the immigrant experience and Universal’s “Wicked” are the most nominated films of the night.
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