Breaking Baz: Meet ‘Wicked’s’ Wonderful Wizard Of Sound Who Captured The Voices Of Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande For Movie Musical

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Wicked production sound mixer Simon Hayes says Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda in the musical extravaganza, has the prowess of an Olympian, which enabled his team to achieve vastly more than they’d expected.

When Hayes and his unit were setting up microphones for the dynamic tour de force number “Defying Gravity” that sees Erivo soar away on a broomstick, they figured that the star would have to stop to catch her breath while doing somersaults for Universal’s hit picture.

Erivo had three microphones on her: a personal mic on the center of her forehead, another fixed on the brim of her hat and one placed on her costume. “What we didn’t realize was that Cynthia would be able to do these gymnastic movements and still sing perfectly.

It didn’t faze her in any way,” he marvels. RELATED: Jon M. Chu Thanks Fans For ‘Wicked’ Success As Film Scoops Cinematic & Box Office Achievement Golden Globe: “We Can Still Make Art That Is A Radical Act Of Optimism” They didn’t know at the time that before she’d arrive on set at the crack of dawn, she was running “10 kilometers every morning to keep her cardio system basically at the level of an Olympic athlete.” In fact, this was something I was well aware of.