Hasty Pudding Names their Woman of the Year, Cynthia Erivo
When it comes to Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year tradition, which predecesses the MOY by almost two decades, only fitting honestly, the choice is always someone incredibly multi-faceted. One that is endearing and wears many hats, and this year’s choice couldn’t have been more perfect. This year’s honoree, Cynthia Erivo, is one of our favorite picks for WOY these past few years, and I’m sure that sentiment could be shared amongst many. In the last few years, lifers like Jennifer Coolidge, Jennifer Garner, and the previous year’s Annette Bening are pretty spectacular examples of those worthy. And Erivo is continuing that tradition, with her ceremony going down just last Wednesday night.
Fresh off an incredible year with the first installment of the Wicked revamp and up for an Oscar for her performance as the iconic Elphaba, the ceremony going down in just a handful of weeks, Wicked, of course, tended to be the focus of her roast including, coming onto the stage for her roast to the tune of “Defying Gravity.” In contrast to the MOY, last week with Jon Hamm, the roast this time around was seemingly more of being charmed by Erivo as well as she by her roasters. During the roast, instead of joking about Hamm still being relevant, the jokes focused on a clear amourness with Erivo. Including at first the line, “Thank you for making time between your busy awards season…and crying in interviews with Ariana Grande.” As the roast progressed as well, they talked about how because Erivo’s PR team was present, they outsourced their jokes this year to a fake “Jerry Seinfeld” and “Bill Burr,” amongst others.
The roast concluded with a revisit from Blue Man Group, who joined Erivo in her parade through Harvard Square earlier that day with their own blue version of the Pudding Cup. Before bringing her actual trophy in, Erivo quipped, “Can I keep this one too?” As she received her cup, Erivo shared the adoration back, saying to the roasters, “I had it on good authority that you two were a little nervous today. You shouldn’t be; you were terrific.” Erivo’s charm wasn’t lost on anyone in the theater and press conference attendance afterwards. The aforementioned interviews with Ariana Grande have sure to have flooded your algorithms, and Erivo’s ease with admirers at the Grammy’s that had just gone down a few days prior, showing the spectacular woman she is; it’s clear why the world has become enamored.
She’s no stranger to the stage and the screen, with years of experience. And that was touched on throughout the press conference following the roast. When asked about how she’s feeling considering she could achieve EGOT status if she wins for her portrayal of Elphaba at the Oscars, she simply but beautifully shared,
“I think it’s inspiring. I don’t know, because the work you do to get there is a little bit silly. It’s hard work to get to that point. Honestly, when I first started, I didn’t know that the EGOT existed. I was just working. And so, to be in the position where I can even suggest that it might happen one day is lovely.”
While Wicked is the focus, Erivo has been consistently going a mile a minute in the past few years as the world sprung back to life. Be it her acclaimed portrayal of Aretha Franklin in the anthology series Genius Aretha to launching her own production company, Edith’s Daughter, and recently wrapping up the second season of Poker Face, along with the likes of Natasha Lyonne and BJ Novak, which will be arriving in the next few months. If that wasn’t enough, she also starred in and produced DRIFT, where her character follows a young refugee from Libya who has escaped her war-torn country to a Greek island. While Erivo is no stranger to more serious work, she also hinted at a comedy project she just finished and, of course, will return to our screens later this year with Part 2 of Wicked releasing on November 21st.
Keep your eyes peeled for much more coming from Erivo, and be sure to catch the Oscars when they air on March 2nd. Considering Wicked’s director, John Chu, just the other day picked up the Critic’s Choice award for Best Director, I’m sure we’ll be seeing some Wicked magic, be it a performance, hopefully, a few awards, and much more to come from the incredibly talented cast this year.
Speaking of incredible casts, 101 Damnations, this year’s Hasty Theatre production, is currently in its 176th run. Tickets to the remaining shows can be found here. The show is only entering its second week and will run until March 9th, so there’s still plenty of time to catch it. It will also appear in NYC from March 14th to March 15th; more information can be found here!
