Stephen Schwartz and arranger Stephen Oremus share insightful details from the original Wicked Broadway musical. Speaking to Variety, the creators revealed that they had to change Glinda’s voice because Kristin Chenoweth wanted to sing in her pure soprano range.
Then Schwartz came up with the idea of singing in his full range while addressing the public. “I think that’s one of the really cool things about musical theater,” he said. He acknowledged that an actor’s voice can influence the final version of any song.
He revealed, “I don’t know how much the actors influence the final version of a play, but in a musical they have a lot of influence because you want to make it specific.” The musical requires the actors to hit every note, rhythm and tempo while still looking natural.
Oremus said she always pushed Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who played Glinda and Elphaba in the latest film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. “I will go” Yes…and? How about something else?” And they’re like, “Oh, we can do other things too?” He remembered.
He also revealed that the actors were treating the material respectfully and were “excited” to wrap their voices around the material. They were ready to “inhabit these characters and find the space themselves where it needed to be.”
However, there was added pressure to live up to the music people have been loving for the last 20 years. The producers wanted to honor this and turn it into a completely new and “beautiful” version of the OG music. “That was a fun challenge for us,” he said.
Oremus said that whenever anyone on the music team wanted to do something different, he and Stephen would push them in that direction and say, “Let’s keep exploring.” Let’s have some fun with it,” he said.
The latest Wicked musical was a blockbuster film that grossed $635 million at the worldwide box office. In addition to Erivo and Grande, the film also stars Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Peter Dinklage, and others. Wicked is in theaters currently.
