Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo harmonize flawlessly in the upcoming flick “Wicked” … and it’s all due to their innate abilities.
As the debut of the musical film approaches in less than a month, the “Wicked” production has provided another sneak peek behind the scenes … featuring clips of Ariana and Cynthia passionately singing on set.
And just to clarify, there is no lip-syncing involved … as both the actresses and the director, Jon M. Chu, affirmed in the featurette that the dynamic singers performed live during filming.
Take a look … Cynthia, who portrays Elphaba (also known as the Wicked Witch of the West) in the forthcoming movie, can be heard doing vocal warm-ups before she masterfully tackles the iconic tune “Defying Gravity” … moving several crew members to tears.
In a similar vein, Ariana — who is taking on the role of Glinda the Good Witch — can be seen effortlessly executing operatic runs while waiting for her cue … later hitting a remarkable high note during her performance of “No One Mourns the Wicked.”
There’s even a snippet of the duo singing a section of “Defying Gravity” together without any instrumental accompaniment … where the actresses sound just as incredible, if not superior, to the Broadway legends. Apologies, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
Nevertheless, as Jon highlighted, both Cynthia and Ariana are among the “finest vocalists globally” … leading them to decide on performing live in “every scene.”
This choice is undoubtedly a daring one, particularly since a similar strategy did not yield favorable results for the cast of the 2012 movie adaptation of “Les Misérables” … which featured Russell Crowe struggling through his musical performances.
Nonetheless, it’s fair to say Ariana and Cynthia are exceptionally well-equipped to tackle a musical film compared to Russell … just saying!!!