On Thursday, 22 December, the well-known American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande posted a bunch of pictures on Instagram. Among them was a picture of an ornament of a Spam can that was hanging on a wall-mounted Christmas tree decorated with green garland, which was clearly a reference to her boyfriend Ethan Slater.
Fans were naturally aware that the ornament is a reference to ‘Spamalot’, the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ that debuted in 2005. Currently playing on Broadway is a production of the comedy, starring Slater in a number of roles.
Since the musical’s October start of rehearsals, Grande has made it obvious that she is a fan of the production, making several trips to New York City’s St. James Theatre to see Slater perform.
She was spotted encouraging him during the first preview performance of the Broadway musical on 2023’s Halloween, and on November 15, she went to the show’s opening night. On 22 December, she also shared a number of selfies that she had taken while watching ‘Spamalot’ with friends on her Instagram Story.
Grande’s post on Instagram also included a mirror image of herself posing in a black minidress with a turtleneck, Christmas lights decorations, screengrabs of a family Facetime call with her mother Joan Grande and brother Frankie Grande, selfies with friends and a photo of two dogs named Quincy and Toulouse.
‘Wicked’ Relationship Timeline
Ariana Grande, age 30, and Ethan Slater, age 31, grew romantically after meeting on the set of the upcoming movie adaptation of ‘Wicked’.
After Slater’s divorce from wife Lilly Jay and Grande’s split from husband Dalton Gomez, the newly met couple’s romance was first made public by PEOPLE magazine in July. After two years of marriage, Grande and Gomez, age 28, finalized their divorce in October 2023.
Both Slater and Grande have a passion for musical theatre, as the pop star also had her Broadway debut in the brief 2008 musical ‘13’ by Jason Robert Brown, which was her first major role. In 2017, Slater debuted on Broadway as the main role of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical’.
Although Grande has frequently been spotted at Spamalot, she and Slater have not yet appeared on the red carpet together. Furthermore, ‘Wicked’ will not depict their relationship as romantic, even though it might exist off screen.
Slater plays Boq in the show, a Munchkin who develops feelings for Grande’s character Glinda, but is pawned off on sister Nessarose (played by Marissa Bode) out of Glinda’s lack of interest.
With only ten days remaining for filming, the two-part film adaptation was put on hold due to the writer’s strike. The film’s release date, however, does not seem to have been impacted by the production stoppage.
Part 1 of ‘Wicked’ is slated to open in theaters on November 27, 2024, and Part 2 will follow a year later on November 26, 2025.
Who is Ariana Grande?
Ariana Grande-Butera is an American singer-songwriter-actress whose contributions to modern pop music has received high praise from both critics and fans due her world-famous songs, impressive four-octave vocal range, and an exceptional whistling register.
Due to her extraordinary vocals and as one of the most streamed musicians of all time, Grande has received numerous accolades during her career, which includes a jaw-dropping 35 Guinness World Records, two Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, one Bambi Award, two Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and nine MTV Video Music Awards.
At the age of 15, Grande made her musical debut in the 2008 Broadway production of 13, and eventually became well-known for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon TV shows Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014).
With over 90 million records sold worldwide, Grande is among the best-selling musicians in the world, with all her studio albums ranked platinum or higher by RIAA.
Billboard called her the most successful female singer to debut in the 2010s, Woman of the Year (2018) and the Greatest Pop Star of 2019,. Grande was named the highest-earning female musician of 2020 by Forbes Celebrity 100, and Rolling Stone listed her as one of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2023.
