Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
On the morning of the premiere for the movie version of the infamous Broadway Musical Wicked, director Jon M. Chu realized he’d be missing the premiere for a wonderful reason, the birth of his fifth child, a little girl named Stevie Sky.
The morning of November 9th, Chu’s wife Kristin Hodge’s water broke and the plans for the day had changed. Chu said “I was watching the premiere streaming while the baby’s coming out. The baby was born while the movie was playing at the premiere, like literally.” to the hosts of the Today Show.
Chu and his wife have four other kids: Willow, 7, Jonathan Heights,5, Ruby, 3, and Iggy 20 months. Three of those kids were born during the production of the movie itself. That only goes to show how long it took for Wicked to come completely to life. Chu posted a story on Instagram telling the world he’d have to miss an important event for a more important one and joked that they would not be naming her Galphaba. In a different Instagram story he posted Chu put a picture of the suit he had planned to wear to the Premiere and asked if he should wear it during the birth of his daughter.
According to The Hollywood Reporter another part of the first Instagram story read “This movie has always moved in mysterious ways,” he wrote. “Today is a day I’ve been dreaming about for a long time. Two babies (a movie and a little girl) all at one time and I truly couldn’t be happier. I won’t be at the Wicked Premiere tonight with all of you…there was a change of plans at about 4 am this morning… Instead my wife and I will be welcoming our 5th child into our family”
It is safe to say Jon M. Chu’s weekend was nothing but filled with joy and happiness as both Wicked and Stevie made their respective debuts to the world on the exact same day. In fact Chu was able to make a quick super late appearance at a Premiere afterparty where he received congratulations from cast members including Cynthia Erivo who plays the iconic green witch Elphaba in the film. After making a quick appearance Chu left to resume his fatherly duties and dote on his newborn daughter and wife. November 9th was a big day for the cast and crew of Wicked but for Jon M. Chu’s family got a little bit bigger with the addition of a beautiful baby girl. Frankie Grande, brother of Ariana Grande who brought bubbly witch Glinda to life in the film sent a video message to Chu telling Hodge to “push” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film comes out on November 22nd in theaters for the rest of the world to see and enjoy. Hopefully musical theater and Wicked fans will be filling up theaters to see the film on opening night.
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