Jonathan Bailey Is Learning Wicked Choreography in His Bridgerton Dressing Room (Exclusive)
Jonathan Bailey is dancing his way through life—and a whole bunch of different Hollywood projects.
“He was actually doing Bridgerton and learning choreography on his days off,” recalls Ariana Grande, his Wicked musical co-star. “He was flying in, doing the dance, and flying back.”
Bailey, 36, corrects: “Wandering back.”
Adapted from the hit Broadway musical by Jon M. Chu, Wicked: Part One (in theaters Nov. 22 with Part Two slated for 2025) stars Grande, 31, as Glinda the Good Witch alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Bailey as Winkie Prince Fiyero Tigelaar. The British actor’s big musical number, “Dancing Through Life,” makes for one of the show’s most dance-heavy scenes.
Bridgerton Season 4: Everything About Benedict’s Regency Romance As PEOPLE’s special issue on all things Wicked explains, Bailey practiced Fiyero’s dances while filming both Bridgerton in London and the historical romance Fellow Travelers in Canada. “I have videos on my phone of me practicing on long-haul flights” between continents, he says.
“Our associate choreographers would come visit him,” Grande tells PEOPLE, marveling at everything Bailey put into his schedule. Choreographer Christopher Scott and his associate choreographers would “teach him in his dressing room, etc.,” she recalls.
Pointing to her friend and co-star, she said, “I just feel so grateful to be present and in my body throughout this very special process and to celebrate it with the most incredible, talented artists around me.”
Why Jonathan Bailey Says Making ‘Gay Love Story’ Fellow Travelers Was a ‘Nonsense’ After Bridgerton (Exclusive) Bailey agrees. “What’s amazing to me is seeing the final film,” he said. “[There’s] so much that I never saw because I wasn’t on set. And to see it so easily — these performances are incredible, obviously Ari and Cynthia — the amount of work that went into it is unprecedented.”
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Netflix’s Bridgerton, created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes, in which Bailey plays Anthony Bridgerton, is slated for a fourth season in 2026. Showtime’s Ron Nyswaner-created miniseries Fellow Travelers, which stars Bailey alongside Emmy-nominated Matt Bomer, is set to premiere in October 2023. Wicked: Season One will hit theaters on November 22, while Season Two is scheduled for November 26, 2025. Co-stars include Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Marissa Bode as Nessarose, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, Keala Settle as Miss Coddle, Ethan Slater as Boq, Peter Dinklage as the voice of Dr. Dillamond, and Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible.
Join PEOPLE behind the scenes of Wicked in this new special, available here.
