If you’re not a fan of musical theatre, or indeed musicals of any kind, look away now, as that’s where I’m going today. I went to see the newly released film Wicked last week and following on from my last post about ladies with big, big voices, I think I’ve just discovered another two – Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. They are the two leads in the film, both witches-in-training, but from opposite ends of the witchy spectrum. Although the stage musical Wicked has been around for 20 years now, I have never seen it (I don’t seem to get out of The Highlands much), so the story really was all new to me, and I loved it.
For anyone else like me who has missed out on the whole Wicked phenomenon, the story is taken from the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. That novel was in turn based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I am surprised at how early it was written as most of us are familiar with the 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland so I assumed the story was from around that time. But anyway, the musical Wicked is told from the perspective of two witches, Elphaba and Galinda, before and after Dorothy’s arrival in Oz.
I said in the title that the two leads have big, big voices. As for Ariana Grande it’s not so much a “big” voice but one with a four-octave range. I knew little of her before the film other than the Manchester Arena attack happened during one her concerts. It turns out she has been voted among the ten greatest pop stars of the 21st century by Billboard and is also ranked among Rolling Stone‘s greatest vocalists of all time, the highest for any artist emerging since the 2010s. It also turns out that Ariana is a great comedic actress and could give Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) a run for their money. Here she is singing the song Popular from the film.
Someone who does have a big voice however is Cynthia Erivo and as we reach the end of the film, which is just part one (the second part will be released next year at the same time), she sings the most well-known song from the musical, Defying Gravity. This is a song I know well as when DD was aged only 15, she was gifted one of those Experience packages, where she was given the chance to visit a recording studio and lay down some tracks. Being a keen singer, and having been in a few musical theatre shows up to that point, there was much excitement, and when we turned up for the day the song she chose was Defying Gravity. Of course now she would probably choose something quite different but I really liked her version which doesn’t have the power of the professionals but is very sweet nonetheless. I know she would be very embarrassed about me sharing this but hey, I was a proud mum, so here is what she came up with on that day. It was a fascinating process, how you record many versions of the same song, do a bit of tweaking and then cut and paste sections together to create the best version possible. She starts off a bit tentatively but after 1:00 the confidence shines through.
So, “What’s It All About?” – Judy Garland’s Wizard of Oz is a film classic, but it was made 85 years ago. The film Wicked is similarly colourful, and full of fun characters, but cinematography, soundtracks and script-writing have come a long way since the 1930s so I felt it was a real extravaganza for the eyes and ears. I’m not sure, however, if many of my followers would want to pay good money to go and see it? All I would say is…, just do it – you might surprise yourself.
Until next time…
Defying Gravity Lyrics
(Song by Stephen Schwartz)
Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap!
It’s time to try
Defying gravity
I think I’ll try
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I’m defying gravity
And you won’t bring me down
I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so
Some things I cannot change but ’til I try, I’ll never know!
Too long I’ve been afraid of losing love I guess I’ve lost
Well, if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost!
I’d sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I’m defying gravity
I think I’ll try
Defying gravity
And you won’t bring me down
As the good friends live in London and we live in the Scottish Highlands, we chose the recording studio in Edinburgh, which was listed as an option, and planned a meetup. The timing coincided with the 
What's It All About? 