Yahoo Lifestyle Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo tease “Wicked” showstopper 'Defying Gravity' with live vocals in new featurette
Grande says that live vocals were "an immediate no-brainer" for the Broadway vets.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were not kidding when they promised live vocals in Wicked — and they’re more than willing to prove it.
On Monday, the duo showed off their golden vocal cords by sharing a behind the scenes clip from the upcoming movie musical, teasing the iconic Act I finale song, "Defying Gravity." Taken from afar, the video sees Grande as Galinda (later known as Glinda) and Erivo as Elphaba, grasping at a broom as they join forces for the show-stopping number.
Taking to their Instagram Stories, the Wicked stars also shared a new featurette for the film, which delves into the true magic of the musical adaptation: live music.
"When we came into this movie, we weren’t sure how much we were gonna do live or not,” director Jon M. Chu shares in the video. "But they are the best singers in the world and so every scene they have been singing live.”
Peppered with musical snippets from the film, the video previews songs including “Popular,” “I’m Not That Girl,” and “Dancing Through Life,” with Erivo and Grande showcasing their vocal chops while explaining the benefits of not pre-recording the songs.
Universal Pictures
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo"We chose to sing live because it meant that we would be further connected to the words that we were saying and to each other,” Erivo said.
Grande added that live vocals were “an immediate no-brainer” for the duo, who have their roots in live theater. Erivo said simply, “There’s something special about what happens when music is live in a room.”
In this particular case, Chu compared witnessing their performances to sitting through "the best concert you have ever attended with the best seats in the house.”
By going the route of live vocals, Wicked is continuing a trend amongst recent films: similar techniques were utilized by such movie musicals as Les Misérables, La La Land, and A Star Is Born, all of which were nominated and/or won for Best Sound at the Oscars.
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Earlier this year, Chu revealed that the decision to embrace live vocals came at the insistence of his stars.
"When we were shooting it, those girls were like, ‘F--- the pre-records. We’re going live,’” he shared.
Though he was initially skeptical, Erivo and Grande were not intimidated by the idea of singing the big numbers while performing the film’s elaborate sequences. When he warned them that such a feat would require "a lot of wind" in their air pipes, they replied, “Yeah. That’s what we do.'"
Based on the hit 2003 Broadway musical, Wicked tells the story of Elphaba and Galinda before the arrival of Dorothy, as the two witches of Oz forge an unlikely friendship in their school days before diverging down different paths. But rather than splitting the story into two acts, this adaptation splits it into two separate films — meaning fans won’t get to hear all their favorite songs when the first film arrives in November.
But Erivo insists that this is change is for the best, as it gives the characters — and their relationships — more time to develop.
“The story gets to be opened,” Erivo told Entertainment Weekly, specifically referencing the friendship between the two witches. "You can follow these women behind the scenes a little bit more, and you get to learn about the two of them," she said. "We've expanded on their relationship as friends. That's a really important special thing that you have in the show, but here you really get to go with them in that. We've got something really special."
The first of Chu's two Wicked movies debuts Nov. 22 in theaters.
