Are Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande Singing Live inWicked? Here's How They Pulled It Off

Mar. 15, 2025

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked: Part One’.Photo:Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Cynthia ErivoandAriana Grande’s vocals soar in the newWickedmovie.

While audiences may assume the strenuousness of Elphaba’s “Defying Gravity” or Glinda’s “Popular” might necessitate lip-syncing to a studio-recorded track, Erivo, 37, and Grande, 31, elected to sing live on the set ofJon M. Chu–directed adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s hit musical about the witches of Oz.

Chu, 45, confirmed that fact in an interview withVanity Fairbackin March. “When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘F— the pre-records. We’re going live.’ ” When he expressed skepticism, he recalled, the actresses assured him they were up to the task: “Yeah. That’s what we do.”

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in “Wicked”.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

“We chose to sing live because it meant that we would be further connected to the words we were saying, and to each other,” said Erivo in the featurette. “There’s something special about what happens when music is live in a room. … It feels really powerful.”

(Left-right:) Jon M. Chu, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the set of ‘Wicked’.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Chu, calling the stars’ vocals on set “the best concert you could have ever attended [from] the best seats in the house,” said his team wanted to make the two-partWickedadaptation as immersive as the Joe Mantello–directed stage show has been sinceIdina MenzelandKristin Chenowethfirst dazzled Broadway in 2003.

“Effectively our movie set is also a recording studio,” said the filmmaker. “So that raw and real emotion that we are recording on set right now will be what you hear and experience in the theater.”

Of course, that meant that as Erivo flies above the Emerald City on Elphaba’s broomstick — asequence of stunts she performed herself— she had to belt “Defying Gravity,” the notoriously difficult act-one finale song.

“I was nervous,” theHarrietOscar nominee admitted in aninterviewonThe Tonight Show StarringJimmy Fallon. “The first time, you’re like, ‘Where am I supposed to put my voice? It’s not working!’ And then you sort of find a way to concentrate, to figure it out, to focus it.”

Speakingto the hosts ofThe View, Erivo explained how she learned to hit high notes while zooming through the air: “In order to sing you need your breath, you need your lungs. And if you’re gonna do something big, especially like ‘Defying Gravity,’ you usually would have the ground underneath you to make the sound because that’s where the force comes from.”

With “no ground” and dangling feet, she said, “my wonderful vocal coach and my stunt director sort of worked together to help me find out where to place the support. I had to find a support within my body as opposed to using any outside influence.”

As she told Em Rusciano ofThe Emsolation Podcast, “When you’re corseted and harnessed, there’s no space for breathing.” Joked Grande: “Her lungs are in her rack.”

Erivo’s vocal coach “reset me so I could find the ground in the air, almost,” she explained. “I’d use my core and use that to make sure the sound could come out.

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Grande similarly did not use a stunt double for Glinda’s wildest antics inWicked. “I’m literally never going to forget youjumping on a chandelier over my headwhilst singing,” Erivo told her costar while speaking toVanity Fair.

Despitecontracting COVIDthe week before filming “Popular,” Grande performed that stunt and more during her character’s bubbly song. Fans of Chenoweth’s version on the Broadway record are sure to notice a significant change: Grande prances down a hallway in Shiz University, modulating Glinda’s “la la la”s up in an extended ending to the song.

(Left-right:) Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Marissa Bode and Ethan Slater at the Australia premiere of ‘Wicked: Part One’ on Nov. 3.Don Arnold/WireImage

Don Arnold/WireImage

“We didn’t know if we were going to do that long ending with the key changes until we saw the hallway at Shiz,” the “Yes, And?” singer said onThe Emsolation Podcast. Choreographer Chris Scott “just choreographed it and spontaneously taught me two days before we shot it.”

“We were given permission to just shift and change” some musical notes, said Erivo, to make their performances their own. “We both knew that we didn’t want to be laborious about things. We really took care of what had come before, we trust in it. The music is really beautiful.”

Of taking on her first movie musical, Yeoh, 62, recalled Chu assuring her that singing as Morrible would be doable. “I was terrified! I was not just nervous,” the Oscar winnertoldThe Hollywood Reporter. But music supervisor Dominick Amendum set her up with a vocal coach, she added, who helped her “to enjoy the process of opening up your voice.”

Go behind the scenes of Wicked with PEOPLE’s special issue, availablehere.

source: people.com