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Cynthia Erivo's R&B Spin on "The Sound of Music" Won Jimmy Fallon's Song Challenge
The Wicked actress received a standing ovation for her Broadway mashups in the Tonight Show game.
Ariana Grande is a Musical Genre Challenge legend — so it's only appropriate that her Wicked co-star, Cynthia Erivo, would have to take a stab at the classic Tonight Show game.
"Cynthia, since you're a Tony winner, and you play Elphaba in the new musical Wicked, these songs will all be Broadway songs," Jimmy Fallon said after explaining the rules of the game during Erivo's Tonight Show visit on November 13.
RELATED: Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo's On the Spot A Cappella Chaka Khan Duet Is Magic
The actress hit the generator button first, and her pick ended up being "All That Jazz" from Chicago, but make it Country. Which Erivo did as she transformed the Kander & Ebb musical into a twangy ditty. Fallon followed with his turn, which had the Tonight Show Host bringing out his inner Backstreet Boy by singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" in the style of a boy band.
After Fallon sung his best Evita, Erivo took a spin on the generator and absolutely slayed it with an unexpected mashup of "The Sound of Music" sung like an '90s R&B pop song. '
Jimmy Fallon on Cynthia Erivo's R&B "Sound of Music": "Print that!"
"Print that! I would listen to that! We should just end this now. Why am I going?" joked Fallon after Erivo finished.
Hitting the generator button, Fallon landed on another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Cats, singing "Memory" — but he added some "Boom Boom Boom" to the ballad when he performed it like a Jock Jam dance track.
Cynthia Erivo's Musical Genre Challenge got a standing ovation
For Erivo's finale, she brought the studio house down with "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, but sung operatic. She belted out the iconic torch song — standing to deliver an impromptu performance so phenomenal that it also made the studio audience rise to their feet to give her a standing ovation.
A new Musical Genre Challenge legend has been born.
RELATED: "Defying Gravity": Everything to Know About Wicked's Most Iconic Song
To experience even more of Erivo's unbelievable talent, check out Wicked when it flies into theaters on Friday, November 22.
And if you're impatiently awaiting your arrival to Shiz University, tune in to the behind-the-scenes special Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked, airing Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, streaming next day on Peacock.
