Making Music on the Set and Stage of Wicked, Part 1

Grammy-winning Canadian music producer, Mixer and multi-instrumentalist Greg Wells had something of a unique perspective on the music of Wicked, director Jon M. Chu’s new blockbuster film of the hit Broadway musical, based on the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire. Having developed a friendship with composer/songwriter Stephen Schwartz long before the story hit the stage, Wells serendipitously ended up years later having his hands on the film’s music at every step of the way, from pre-production through principal photography to the final mix—and not just of the film, but also the original soundtrack release.

Adept from a very early age at playing any instrument that he picked up, in 1990, still in his early 20s, Wells moved to Los Angeles from rural Ontario on a government arts scholarship. He came to L.A. to study piano with Clare Fischer, the famed Latin jazz composer and Prince’s longtime string arranger, and Terry Trotter, piano player for Frank Sinatra and Larry Carlton. Wells just figured that he would return home when the grant money ran out, but that summer he found himself in a hot and humid Houston schoolroom with his Yamaha DX7 and Roland D-50 keyboards rehearsing with New York cabaret singer Jane Olivor.

“When Jane came in on the second day, there was a man with her,” Wells recalls. “He was very quiet and didn’t draw a lot of attention to himself. It was revealed that this was Stephen Schwartz, who was writing songs for Jane’s new album. He had written Godspell in his 20s and was already a legendary Broadway composer.” He and Schwartz just clicked, Wells says, and they stayed in touch over the years. “He’s a lovely guy, really a special human being. And 30-plus years later—two summers ago—I got an email from him.”

Schwartz wanted to know whether Wells would like to be the music producer on the upcoming film version of Wicked. The stage production, from the book by Winnie Holzman and for which Schwartz wrote the songs, debuted on Broadway in 2003, eventually picking up three Tonys and a Grammy, among many other awards.

“Initially, my job description was to be the music producer of all the songs, of which there are many,” Wells says, “and to mix the songs in immersive for the film, in stereo for the album soundtrack, and in Atmos for the immersive version of the album soundtrack.” Oh, and there were to be not one, but two films. “I’m just about to start it all again for movie two.”

PREPARING MUSIC FOR PRODUCTION

Name an instrument and Wells can probably play it, and he often does on his collaborations with Adele, John Legend, Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mika and many others. As a young person, he says, “I would learn to play any instrument I could get my hands on. I didn’t realize until years later that it was fantastic practice for what I do now for a living.”

When he signed on, Wells wasn’t asked to play any instruments on Wicked’s songs. Rather, he spent hours in the studio—he has an immersive mix room at his house in Santa Monica and a two-room space 15 minutes away full of instruments and audio gear—pounding out the songs on a MIDI keyboard for playback during the shoot.

“We had to stay flexible, because I was hired before most of the cast was hired,” Wells says, adding that the two leads, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, had already committed. “We didn’t know what people’s ranges were going to be or what tempo they were going to sound best at. Then I gave myself this absurd challenge to make MIDI demos that didn’t sound like MIDI demos. I really wanted it to sound like a real orchestra and real band. And those demos are what they shot the movie to.”

The plan was always to capture vocals live on the set, “because the singers, especially the two leads, are such powerhouse vocalists with such training, talent and experience,” Wells notes. With that in mind, Simon Hayes, the film’s Oscar-winning production sound mixer, had each actor fitted with one or sometimes two DPA lavalier mics and, where practical, simultaneously used a Schoeps boom mic, which would be digitally removed from the final print. Track playback was fed to the actors via IEMs, and Wells reports, “They had massive loudspeakers on the set.”

“We recorded studio versions of everyone’s vocals to those MIDI tracks with fake guitar, fake drums, fake everything,” Wells explains. “They built a studio, which we named Elstree, on the set. It was heartbreaking to know that it got taken down when we were done; it was beautiful.” Ultimately, he says, “The vocals in the film are, I would say, 99.9 percent sung live on set. There were only a few words where we needed to go back to the studio-recorded vocal.”

Wells worked with Hayes and the production sound team on set in England for a couple of months in late 2022. “I’ve been doing this for so long I’ve learned the benefit of having great microphones. They solve so many problems,” Wells says. “So, I asked Telefunken to please send us some mics, and those mics were sometimes used on set with Simon,” including a 251 model, which Wells found out is Grande’s recording mic of choice.

Wells’ relationship with Telefunken Elektroakustik goes back to when he first contacted Alan Venitosh, director of operations, sales and marketing, about finding and reconditioning a vintage U 47 for his collection. “He said, ‘I can make what you’re looking for,’ and I said, ‘Thank you, but I want the old-school Holy Grail.’ He said, ‘I’m going to make you a mic. You don’t have to buy it, just tell me what you think.’ I still have it; it’s one of my favorite go-to microphones.”

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR THE CONCLUSION!