LONDON – ‘Bridgerton’ star Jonathan Bailey says playing Prince Fiyero, an adventurous wonky countryman, in the musical film ‘Wicked’ helped him return to his roots.

The British actor, who rose to global fame on the hit Netflix Regency-era series, took ballet lessons as a youth and began his career as a child actor in theater productions.

He said in an interview, “I missed two things in the purest version of who I am. I loved to dance and I loved to sing. And to be able to return to that, it all feels like full circle.” ”

“Wicked” is based on Stephen Schwartz’s musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book. It tells the story of Elphaba, a green-skinned young woman who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West from the classic children’s novel “The Wizard of Oz.”

Pop star Ariana Grande plays the privileged and popular Glinda, who meets Elphaba at Shiz University, where they also befriend Bailey’s Fiyero.

Bailey was filming “Fellow Travellers” in Toronto and “Bridgerton” in London when rehearsals for “Wicked” began and she had to get creative to prepare for the film’s elaborate song-and-dance sequences. The 36-year-old actor said, this means practicing his steps on a long-haul flight and doing high leg kicks while eating.

Bailey said her “Bridgerton” experience helped her approach the highly anticipated production.

“I feel like I’ve trained well for this,” he said.

Bailey said, “I think ‘Bridgerton’ was an adaptation that was very successful, brilliant and brilliant and a lot of people loved the books, but I think the imagination in ‘Wicked’ is so iconic, so it felt a little different. Is.” To share with another fan.”

The first chapter of the two-part “Wicked” film series is released in UK and US theaters on Friday.

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