After meeting on the set of the movie adaptation of Wicked, costars Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater developed a romance offscreen — but they aren’t the only pair brought together by the magical musical.
Wicked first debuted on Broadway in 2003, putting a twist on the well-known dichotomy of The Wizard of Oz’s Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West. The story — based on the 1995 book of the same name, by Gregory Maguire — instead follows Elphaba (the Wicked Witch), her unlikely friendship with Glinda, and the events that lead her to eventually become the Wicked Witch of the West.
Wicked: Part One is in theaters now. The movie’s second act is slated for Nov. 26, 2025.
Below, a look at all the real-life couples who saw sparks fly while acting in either the Broadway or film adaptation of Wicked.
Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater
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Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s relationship was first confirmed by PEOPLE in July 2023 and began after Grande’s separation from her then-husband, Dalton Gomez, and Slater’s separation from his then-wife, Lilly Jay.
As a source told PEOPLE in December 2023, “[Ariana] loves being with [Ethan]. It’s a very normal relationship.”
The two made their relationship Instagram official in November 2024. The image, taken backstage at the Australia premiere of Wicked, showed Slater chivalrously carrying the train of Grande’s gown.
Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs
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Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel first crossed paths while costarring in the original Broadway production of Rent back in the mid-1990s, eventually tying the knot in 2003 and welcoming son Walker in 2009.
Menzel originated the role of Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and while her husband wasn’t part of the original cast, he did join her onstage after actor Norbert Leo Butz (who played Fiyero) took a medical leave. Diggs stepped into the role temporarily, playing his wife’s onstage love interest for a month.
In 2013, the two announced their split after a decade of marriage, finalizing their divorce the following year.
Nick Adams and Kyle Brown
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Nick Adams and Kyle Brown met in 2010, as castmates on Broadway’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Later, Brown played Adams’ understudy in Wicked’s national tour.
As Brown told Playbill in a 2016 interview, the two “loved” working together on Wicked: “As soon as I found out he was coming out I was so excited because my person was going to be on the road with me, and he would get to experience all the things that I was experiencing. I definitely enjoyed the tour more with him than I did without him.”
Norbert Leo Butz and Michelle Federer
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Both Norbert Leo Butz and Michelle Federer acted as part of the original Broadway cast of Wicked — Butz as Fiyero and Federer as Nessarose. The couple was married in 2007. They have three children (one together, and two from Butz’s former marriage).
Butz joked to Broadway.com that he won over Federer with Fiyero’s tight white pants in the show, quipping that “she was checking out those white pants when I was ‘Dancing Through Life.’ Now she’s dancing through wife!”
Michelle Pawk and John Dossett
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Michelle Pawk and John Dossett, who married in 2004, currently star in Wicked on Broadway. Pawk plays Madame Morrible, while Dossett plays the Wizard.
Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus
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Stephanie J. Block played the role of Elphaba in the original readings of Wicked and during the North American tour of the traveling show. It was on tour that she met Sebastian Arcelus, who served as a replacement for the role of Fiyero for a brief time.
They got married in October 2007 and are parents to a daughter named Vivienne.
Kara Lindsay and Kevin Massey
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Kara Lindsay and Kevin Massey actually met while starring opposite one another in a production of Little House on the Prairie.
Lindsay performed the role of Glinda in the Broadway company show and two national tours of Wicked, while Massey has served in various roles as an understudy of the Broadway show.
The couple married in 2013 and welcome their first child, a son, that same year.
