How Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Learned to Fly and Sing Live at the Same Time

The fact that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo sang live in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has wowed fans (yes, Erivo belted while whizzing through the air during “Defying Gravity” and Grande didn’t rely on pre-records while swinging on a chandelier during “Popular”). 

But allowing the film’s two leads to go live — on which Chu and the actors insisted to capture the spirit of the Broadway musical — took a village. The sound teams had to work with the choreographers, production designers, costume department and stunt teams, among others, to make sure that the microphones didn’t pick up any noise that would hinder a clear recording of the vocals. 

“From the first moment Jon and I met on Zoom, he said, ‘I really feel like we have to go live, but I’m worried — I’ve got three cameras on cranes, some of the sets are 50 feet tall. Is it possible?’ ” sound mixer Simon Hayes tells THR. “I said, ‘We can go live, if you’re asking the whole crew to support the live process.’ ” 

And that’s what happened: Cranes and wires were made quiet, the footfall of dancers was minimized, microphones were properly placed (and removed in post) on dresses, and generators were placed far away from set so the whirring wouldn’t be picked up by the mics.

That’s not to say prerecords weren’t utilized. In fact, they were used on wider shots where the camera wasn’t tight on Grande and Erivo’s mouths. This allowed the performers to save their voices for the close-ups. Prerecords were also essential for dancers during rehearsals (choreographer Chris Scott started practices five months before filming commenced) and to help dancers hit their marks during shooting. They also served as a backup in case Grande or Erivo got sick. But “the prerecords always [stayed] in our back pocket,” says Hayes. “It became clear, and this shouldn’t be surprising, that [the actors] have incredible vocal stamina and could sing live all day, 10 hours, and not wear their voices out.”

Grande, who plays Galinda/Glinda in the film, had two personal mics on her at all times, one on her right and one on her left (due to Glinda’s low-cut dresses). The two mics allowed the team to record her vocals whichever way her head turned, and if one picked up the rustle of fabric, there would be a backup track. Additionally, there were two boom operators capturing the sound. The mics on clothes were edited out in post by VFX supervisor Pablo Helman. “The VFX removal of a microphone has a financial penalty, but so does rerecording a vocal,” Hayes says. “Our whole MO is: If we’re going to spend some money, let’s spend it on supporting the original performance.” 

During Grande’s live performance of “Popular,” special effects crew hid inside the cupboards and drawers to open and close them manually, and hinges were oiled to minimize noise. Similarly, during Erivo’s performance of “Defying Gravity,” many sounds, including wind, had to be controlled so they wouldn’t interfere with her live vocals. “Cynthia was adamant that she was going to sing live, so we had to make this scene as quiet as possible — but it also had to be super windy,” says Hayes. The sound and special effects teams worked together to devise “silent wind,” pumping air from wind machines outside the soundstage through holes in the set walls, with technicians pointing plastic, flexible tubes at Erivo as she flew through the air. 

During the film’s opening sequence, “No One Mourns the Wicked,” Hayes asked for something “unprecedented”: that the generators be placed 100 yards away from the set wall so the hum would not be heard in the live recordings. (The sets were as big as four football fields, so production had to pay additional money for the extra rigging and cables, says Hayes.) 

Headphones were worn by crewmembers so everyone, from lighting to camera operators, could hear their cues without impeding the live recording. And nature sounds, like birdsong and wind rustle, were added.

Erivo and Grande even requested to go off-tempo for some songs. For “I’m Not That Girl,” for example, Erivo wanted to play with the tempo, so a live keyboard player plugged into her in-ear monitor accompanied the singer instead of leading her. This was then mixed with the prerecorded track, which allowed the actors to find “the best balance between respecting that rhythm and tempo of the stage show,” says Hayes, “but giving them the freedom to express themselves emotionally.” 

For a more behind-the-scenes look at how the sound on Wicked was created, watch the exclusive clip below.

This story first appeared in a January stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.