C’mon — did you really think Saturday Night Live would have Ariana Grande on as musical guest and not let her act, too?
Appearing on the March 9 installment of the show, hosted by Josh Brolin, Ariana sang two songs from her new album eternal sunshine — “we can’t be friends” and “imperfect for you” — but also appeared in a couple of sketches. First, she played a member of a support group for people pleasers, which didn’t require her to sing. But she was able to use her famous voice in her second sketch: a parody of Baz Luhrmann‘s film Moulin Rouge.
The concept of the sketch, which co-starred Ari’s fellow Wicked cast member Bowen Yang, was that while filming the love songs medley — aka the “Elephant Love Medley” — in the movie, they didn’t know which songs they would be able to get the rights to, so they sang a whole bunch of random songs just in case.
Cue Ari and Yang, as Satine and Christian, singing a bizarre mashup that included “Happy Birthday,” TLC‘s “Creep,” Oasis‘ “Wonderwall,” Carrie Underwood‘s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” U2′s “Pride,” Jennifer Lopez’s “Waiting for Tonight,” Taylor Swift‘s “You Belong With Me,” Styx‘s “Come Sail Away,” Barenaked Ladies‘ “One Week,” Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You,” Dusty Springfield‘s “Son of a Preacher Man,” Elton John‘s “Your Song,” Shania Twain‘s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” the children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Do Re Mi” from The Sound of Music.
The two, who broke into giggles several times, ended the sketch by singing the final vocal riff of “Defying Gravity,” from Wicked. Ariana plays Glinda the Good Witch in the film, which hits theaters November 27, while Yang plays Pfannee, one of Glinda’s college friends.
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