Wicked’s Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey Bonded Over Their Theater Kid Roots: ‘It Gave Us Fizz’ (Exclusive)

Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey didn’t need to fake their chemistry on the set of Wicked — the actors became fast friends thanks to their theater kids roots, they tell PEOPLE.

Pop star Grande, 31, and Bridgerton actor Bailey, 36, both got their starts on stage: The “thank u, next” singer made her Broadway debut at age 15 in the musical Thirteen, while Bailey was a child actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving on to West End productions like Les Misérables. 

“I feel like we were both very theater children in the room,” says Grande, who plays Glinda, the future Good Witch, in the musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. 

“I mean incessant,” agrees Bailey, who stars as Glinda’s dreamy love interest, Prince Fiyero.

“And we were very giggly together. That was the tough thing with us. We were the giggliest pair,” adds Grande. “It carbonated our chemistry.”

“It gave us fizz,” says Bailey.

Grande says that as their characters fell for each other on screen, she and Bailey were “falling for each other as friends in real life, too. That was such a beautiful part of it. We had the most beautiful time.”

Though the two also share a Bridgerton connection — a string arrangement of Grande’s “thank u, next” was used in Season 1 of the Netflix series that helped raise Bailey’s profile — Grande admits she never watched the series in full.

“I kind of missed the boat, but I need to get on it,” says Grande, telling Bailey, “I watched all your scenes.”

Bailey doesn’t seem to mind. “Do you know what? That boat is setting sail and you can jump on it in a few years time. There’s still, I think there’s a good few more years and a few more characters and hopefully stringed arrangements for all these songs,” he says.

Wicked, which also stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, the future Wicked Witch of the West and Jeff Goldbum as the Wizard of Oz, is based on the long-running Broadway musical.

The movie adaptation earned $114 million from North American theaters on its opening weekend, making it the third highest debut of the year, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2. 

Part 1 is in theaters now: Part 2 debuts in 2025.

Buy PEOPLE’s Wicked special edition here.