Executive producer Ben Winston is no stranger to producing variety specials. He counts “The Late Late Show,” “The Grammy Awards,” and more among his credits. When it came to bringing “Wicked: One Wonderful Night” to audiences, his biggest concern was: “How do we do justice to this thing?”
Winston was speaking at an FYC event on the Universal lot in early June in a conversation moderated by the film’s director Jon M. Chu. Winston explained that the solution was a simple one: relying on the traditional, old-school variety show formula. “What we tried to do is just make it a real variety special in the best way,” he said. That meant weaving in comedy sketches, musical performances and choreography as well as clips that audiences had never seen before.
“The team really just tried to make a real, old-school variety special that people would remember for many years.”
The special aired just before the second film, “Wicked: For Good,” was released in cinemas, and featured live performances of al features live performances of “Popular,” “Defying Gravity,” and a performance of “Thank Goodness.” Winston revealed there wasn’t much time to rehearse the musical numbers. “We only had the theater for two days,” he said, referring to the Dolby Theater.
Winston and Chu were joined by choreographer Christopher Scott, who pointed out that Michelle Yeoh, who plays Madame Morrible, doesn’t dance in the film. However, with the special, he had an opportunity to create a short number that encapsulated the weather-manipulating powers of her character and incorporated movements inspired by her martial arts background. Scott shared, “It was a challenging choreography moment. We had very little time because we had three days.” To make it work, Scott visited Yeoh at her hotel to rehearse the movements with her. “She turned it on, and she did it. She added this wink, which nobody told her to do, but it was Michelle Yeoh at her finest.”
The “For Good” number reunited Erivo and Grande with the Broadway show’s original leads, Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth (both of whom make a special appearance in “Wicked: Part One”). Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz wrote a new bridge.
Winston also recalled meeting with Grande over Zoom. When Grande asked him how he planned to end the show, he admitted he told her, “‘I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it.’” He goes on to say, Grande pitched him the idea of singing a rendition of “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.” He said, “She immediately pitched it, and she texted the video. We watched it together at the same time, and I was like, ‘This is amazing. What a great message to end it.’”
Music director Stephen Oremus added, “…to end with such a hopeful, beautiful thing and such an iconic duet between two iconic singers.” Grande and Erivo did have concerns as it was being pieced together. Oremus said, “We reconstructed the entire arrangement that Judy and Margaret did note by note, and it was really just so emotional and so beautiful.”
He continued, “It took everyone out in such a positive, beautiful way. To have something refreshing that wasn’t from ‘Wicked’ was connected in some way with the whole Judy Garland of it all.”
As “Wicked: One Wonderful Night” vies for Emmy consideration in multiple categories, it would become one of the first IP’s in 2000 to win an Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy award.
Todd Williamson/NBC
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