Kristin Chenoweth is a sentimental woman when it comes to Ariana Grande.
Two decades after the Broadway star took the stage as Glinda the Good Witch in Wicked, she reflected on passing the glittery wand to the "7 Rings" singer for the silver screen.
"It's so cool," Kristin told E! News at the God's Love We Deliver Golden Heart Awards in New York Oct. 21. "It's something that I created and was a part of from the beginning, and now my girl Ariana is doing the role."
Indeed, it's a character Ariana has felt connected to since she was a little girl. "I've known her since she was 10," Kristin, 56, continued. "When she was a little girl, she came backstage. That's when we first met. She said, 'I want to be Glinda.'"
And it's a memory they now look back fondly on.
"So, we just hold each other's hands and go, 'Can you believe that this moment has happened?'" the West Wing alum continued. "I get very emotional when I think about it. She's going to put her own stamp on this role and people better buckle up because she's wonderful."
Ariana—who stars alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible and more—won't be defying gravity alone during the film's premiere next month.
"I'll be there with her," Kristin added. "I'm probably going to cry and hold her hand. I want her to enjoy this moment. I want to pass that wand off to her." (For more with Kristen, tune into E! News tonight, Oct. 22 at 11 p.m.)
Ariana previously shared insight into how much it meant to step inside Glinda's pink bubble.
"I have never wanted something as badly as I did this," she explained on the Zach Sang Show in February. "Everything about me, I had to deconstruct to prove to them that I could handle taking on this other person. I had to completely erase popstar Ari—the person that they know so well—because it's even harder to believe someone as someone else when you're so branded as one thing. I had to go all the way and strip that down."
"I'm so grateful for it because it is the best, most transformative and special experience of my life," she continued. "I love Glinda so much after spending so much time with her. She's so strong. Her arc is so rich and so beautiful."
--Reporting by Emily Curl
(E! News and Universal Pictures are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
As we wait for the doors of Shiz University to open, keep reading for more looks at Wicked ahead of its premiere Nov. 22.