Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Ariana Grande Speechless After Drew Barrymore Surprises Her With Original 'Wizard Of Oz' Prop

Drew Barrymore with Ariana Grande holding Glinda wand
The Drew Barrymore Show

The Wicked star was in tearful shock after Barrymore surprised her by letting her hold the original wand used by Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.

Ariana Grande had her dream come true after landing the role of Galinda, a.k.a. Glinda the Good Witch, in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked now in theaters.

But she didn't know she was about to be granted the most magical wish of them all.


The pop idol stopped by The Drew Barrymore Show, where the eponymous hostess with the mostest surprised her with the wand Glinda used in the 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz.

By the look on Grande's face, she couldn't be happier.

When Grande sat down, Barrymore told her she had “something that’s extremely exciting and special” to present to her.

"It's actually owned by the Smithsonian, and now it's owned in private hands," Barrymore explained.

"But for the purposes of our sit-down, they loaned it to us," she said, and called for a member of her show's staff to bring out “the original Glinda wand."

Grande's jaw dropped as the iconic Hollywood prop once held by actor Billie Burke, who played Glinda in The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland, was handed to her.

“Are you serious right now?” she asked after a momentary pause to take it all in. She then got up with the bejeweled star-tipped staff and proceeded to fake-exit stage left, and jokingly said:

“Thank you guys, it’s been fun."

After feigning ignorance over the wand being "on loan" and that it wasn't for Grande to keep, she returned to Barrymore and quipped, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

You can view a clip here.

Barrymore laughed and then realized just how stunning her guest looked, basking in the dazzling moment.

“You look so perfect with it,” she said.

“How did you even, how did you pull this off? Oh my God, did you break in?” Grande asked.

Barrymore explained that her crew and production team arranged to get her the wand after being "so excited" in advance of her appearance on the show.

“That is the original wand from The Wizard of Oz. So there you go,” said Barrymore.

Remaining at a loss for words, the pink-clad star responded with, “Oh my God.”

Fans were living for it.








It's worth mentioning that the actual wand Burke used during filming for The Wizard of Oz is not known to exist.

The wand presented to Grande was actually a silver test wand created by renowned costume designer Gilbert Adrian. The only surviving version was used for costume fittings and is currently on loan, as Barrymore mentioned.

The wand seen in the 1939 classic featured colored gemstones, whereas the test wand has clear rhinestones.

Still, it has significant Hollywood cred as Burke posed with it for publicity photos.

The National Museum of American History noted that multiple iterations of the wand may have been created for use earlier or after the film and the test wand was perhaps designed with clear stones to appear better in black-and-white photography.

Conversely, the silver test wand did not appear as impressive in technicolor and was replaced with a multi-colored version for filming.

Those wands were displayed at a museum inside a North Carolina theme park called The Land of Oz, which was destroyed by a fire in 1975. It is speculated the film props were lost in the conflagration or stolen from looting.



Grande's journey to Wicked has been a long and ultimately rewarding experience.

The Broadway musical is based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is loosely based on the characters in L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation.

She was obsessed with the stage musical after seeing it when she was 10 on Broadway in 2003 with the original cast, including Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the role of Galinda.

When the buzz of the movie adaptation gained traction, Grande lobbied hard for the role of Galinda and prepped herself by taking advanced singing and acting lessons. After a grueling and endless audition process, she was cast to play Galinda alongside Tony winner and Oscar-nominated actor Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.

The first film of the two-part adaptation directed by Jon M. Chu has become a phenomenal success, grossing $268.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $97.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $366 million as of December 2.

More from Entertainment/tv-and-movies

Stefan Molyneux; Charlie Kirk
@StefanMolyneux/X; Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Far-Right Podcaster Gets Epic Fact-Check After Claiming Charlie Kirk Never Called Anyone A 'Fascist'

Stefan Molyneux, an Irish-born Canadian White nationalist podcaster who promotes conspiracy theories, White supremacy, scientific racism, and the men's rights movement, jumped to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's and his fellow hatemonger Charlie Kirk's defense on X.

Writer Peter Rothpletz (Peter Twinklage) shared Trump's widely criticized Truth Social post about Rob Reiner after the actor, writer, director, philanthropist, and activist and his wife were murdered.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tucker Carlson; Donald Trump
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images

Tucker Carlson Dragged After His Conspiracy Theory Prediction About Trump's Speech Is Way Off

Former Fox News personality turned far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson was widely mocked after he made a bold prediction about what President Donald Trump would announce during his primetime address to the nation on Wednesday—namely that the U.S. would go to war with Venezuela.

But it turns out Carlson was very, very wrong. The speech was nowhere near that consequential and Trump spent the majority of it complaining about former President Joe Biden.

Keep ReadingShow less
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; JD Vance
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images; Jacquelyn Martin/Pool/Getty Images

AOC Has Iconic Reaction After She's Asked If She Could Beat JD Vance In 2028 Presidential Election

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had quite the response to recent polling that suggested she could beat Vice President JD Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential election.

A new poll from The Argument/Verasight shows Ocasio-Cortez narrowly edging out Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup, with 51 percent of respondents backing her and 49 percent supporting him.

Keep ReadingShow less
marathon runner on starting block
Braden Collum on Unsplash

People Break Down The Greatest Comeback Stories They've Ever Heard

At the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, runner Billy Mills won the 10k meter race—the first and still only runner from the United States to win Olympic gold in the 10k.

Mills is a member of the Oglala Lakȟóta tribe of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux Nation) from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Mills' Mother Grace died when he was 8 years old and his Father Sidney died when he was 12.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Who Work In Someone Else's Home Share The Most Revealing Things They've Noticed

Going into strangers' homes isn't the most fun thing to do.

I always get nervous.

Keep ReadingShow less